The Fame Game
by Klaraholic
Summary: Caroline is just a normal girl until she meets Klaus Mikelson, current heartthrob and Hollywood obsession. Now, she is thrown into the world of glitz, glamour, celebrities and lies. When their relationship is out there for everyone to see, how can it survive? Klaroline AU.
1. Chapter 1: At the beginning

**Authors Note: Hi! I'm trying my hand at a multi-chapter fic, so we'll see where it goes. :) Sorry if the characters seem a little OOC. I really hope you like it! And unfortunately I don't own The Vampire Diaries but I wish i did...things would be a lot different, I'm thinking Klaroline every episode for the whole episode. :). Ok I'll shut up now, thanks again for giving this a try! **

**The Fame Game**

"Forbes, Caroline." Her name is called and she walks up onto the stage to receive her diploma. She turns a little so that her mother can get a picture of her. This is one of the rare occasions that her mom actually shows up to something. She was noticeably absent from Caroline's high school graduation, her excuse the same as it always was: work. After Liz Forbes snaps the picture Caroline walks off the stage and lets out of breath. It seems surreal, the fact that she's done, she no longer has to study her ass off in order to keep the scholarship money that she most desperately needs. She doesn't have to put her personal life on hold just so she can take care of the things that her mother neglects. She goes to take her seat next to her best friend and ex-roommate Katherine Petrova. Katherine is a year older and has been Caroline's rock for the past four years of her life.

"Look at you, my little college graduate." She says bumping her shoulder against Caroline's. Caroline just rolls her eyes and lets the relief flood over her. She made it.

"Want to catch a movie?" Katherine says helping Caroline load boxes into her car.

"A movie?" Caroline asks shaking her head. She grabs the last box and shoves it in, shutting the trunk behind it quickly before anything can fall out of place.

"Yeah, to celebrate your first night of freedom!" Katherine yells slinging her arm around her friend's shoulder. "Well, tough luck for you because I'm not letting you say no. I'll pick you up at 9. We can go see that new Klaus Mikelson action one."

"Alright, Kat. But don't even think about pulling one of your 'oops we ended up in a bar' tricks. I have a lot to do tomorrow so I can't afford a hangover."

"Ok, no hangover tomorrow. Got it. But that doesn't rule out drinking completely no does it?" She winked at Caroline spinning on her heel to go back to her car which was parked behind Caroline's. "Game on, Forbes. Game on." She calls over her shoulder.

At about 11:30 Caroline and Katherine are walking out of the movie theater. Around them are a bunch of teenage girls talking excitedly about 'how hot Klaus' accent is' and 'How great his ass is'. Caroline and Katherine share a glance at these comments and stifle a laugh.

"Ok, I have to say that, that girl had the right idea running from a psychopath like him. I mean, _come on_, he wanted to drain her blood for some kind of stupid satanic ritual. I would have committed suicide too." Katherine says looping her arm through Caroline's as they walk out into the parking lot. "And then the whole twin thing? What the hell was that about?"

"The girl who claimed to be in love with his brother?" Caroline asked, "That was cute!"

"I don't think she actually loved him though." Katherine adds. "All in all, I'll just say that if you ever date a psychopath like him then you know that all you have to do is shove a little tree branch through his heart and then he'll die." Katherine rolls her eyes.

"The ending was kind of anticlimactic." Caroline agrees, and I don't think that he should have died. He was a good bad guy. Although I still don't like him. He has that asshole vibe."

"Speaking of the asshole vibe, I have to meet Damon for coffee pretty early to talk about moving arrangements."

"You broke up with him, and you're still meeting him for coffee to talk about him moving out?" Caroline asks with a laugh and a shake of her head. "That sounds like a really bad date."

"I'll call you later Forbes." Katherine says hugging her, "Try not to get into any trouble while I'm away." She adds before walking away.

Caroline was tired, she hadn't slept well in a while and she could barely keep her eyes open as she drove her car home. She slowed at an intersection, checking if it was ok for her to make her turn. As she was looking to her side she heard the screeching of tires as a Porsche tried desperately to stop itself from rear-ending her car. But it was too late and before being able to react Caroline's car skids forward and hear head hits the steering wheel. She brought her hand up to touch the slight wetness that was gathering where her head hit the wheel. It came away with a few smudges of blood. "Son of a bitch!" She says throwing her door open, preparing to give this asshole a piece of her mind.

When she is out of the car she slams the door angrily and storms towards the Porsche behind her. Before she can get too close though the door opens and a man steps out. He wears a baseball hat and sunglasses, despite the fact that it's past midnight. She stops abruptly, vaguely recognizing the way that this man moves. He approaches her and she can just make out the lines of his muscles beneath his shirt. Caroline stands there at a loss for words, which is something completely new for her.

"Are you alright love?" The man asks in a British accent. That voice, she recognizes it too. Her hand goes to her head, and her mouth drops when she realizes who this man is.

"You—you're," Her voice fades away. And the man snickers shaking his head, finally he removes his sunglasses.

"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Klaus."


	2. Chapter 2: Riding in Cars With Boys

**Hey! Thanks for the awesome response you guys gave chapter one! I was literally grinning like a moron for about a whole two days! Here's chapter two, the beginning chapters are probably more filler chapters until it gets to where I want it to be. I've outlined it and I'm super excited for a couple of scenes I'm thinking of writing for it! Enjoy and I love reviews, they keep me inspired to write more!**

Caroline laughs, because what else are you supposed to do when the guy who hits your car happens to be one of the biggest celebrities out there? "I'm hallucinating, there's no other explanation. Katherine made me drink too much, and then I hit my head and now…" She points at him, "I just watched your movie." She says and he just raises an eyebrow.

"As entertaining as this is sweetheart, there are some people who are going to be here soon and you probably don't want to get mixed up with them." _The _Klaus Mikaelson says to her.

"What kind of people?" She asks, immediately thinking that she's going to be murdered by whatever cult this man is a part of.

"Paparazzi." He says simply. "And you didn't answer my question. Are you ok?"

"I hit my head," She says, "But I'm fine." He looks shocked, so she adds, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Most people would try to fake an injury to get money, or publicity." He says matter-of-factly.

"Well, I'm not most people." Caroline retorts. Down the road there is the unmistakable sound of cars approaching. Klaus looks over his shoulder and then looks back to Caroline, taking a step forward.

"Do me a favor?" He says and doesn't wait for and answer before taking his hat off and holding it out for her along with his sunglasses. "Put these on." When she doesn't take them he sighs and puts the hat on her head and shoves the sunglasses into her hands. "Seriously, unless you want your pretty face on the cover of every magazine in the country along with a very untrue article about 'our new-found love', then I suggest you put these on."

"Our new-found love?" She scoffs, but takes the glasses anyway and slips them on. "Look, I don't even like you to begin with so before you get any assumptions—" Before she can say anything else though he grabs her arm and pulls her towards her car. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She asks, shocked at his abruptness. She stumbles behind him as he pulls her to the passenger side of her car and opens the door, gesturing for her to get in. Two cars skid to a halt at the side of the road behind them and people with cameras jump out, immediately snapping pictures.

"Get in!" Klaus says forcefully and she obeys, not seeing another alternative at that moment.

The second she is sitting down in her seat he slams the door behind her. She watches with her mouth hanging open as he walks around the front of her car to get to the driver's side. Instinct tells her that she should lock the doors and drive away as fast as she can, but in that moment she is frozen in shock. When he reaches the door, Klaus throws it open ignoring the people quickly surrounding the car and shouting questions at him. He climbs in, slamming the door behind him and holding his hand out to her. "Keys," he demands, glaring at her as if this is all her fault. She doesn't respond to his demand. "I'm not going to ask again sweetheart, now _give me the damn keys." _He snarls at her and Caroline hands them over with shaking hands.

Less than a minute later they are peeling away down the street leaving the paparazzi far behind them. "Where are we going?" Caroline asks after a few moments. He just glances over at her with a smirk that she so often sees on the cover of magazines. It takes Klaus a second to notice that she has taken the sunglasses off but his baseball hat is still on her head. He smiles and makes an abrupt turn that causes her to lurch to the left slightly.

"You should probably put your seatbelt on love." He says as he makes yet another turn. Caroline mumbles something and he briefly catches the words 'cave-man' and 'kidnapping' escape her lips. He smiles in spite of himself and slams on the brake once her seatbelt is secured. She jerks forward in her seat causing the seatbelt to dig into her skin.

"What the _hell!_" She yells looking at him with wide eyes.

"Stop sign." He says simply and then starts forward again at a regular speed.

"You really are insane." She says looking out the window with her arms folded over her chest. "I was totally right." She mumbles that last part to herself but he hears it and smirks again.

"You really don't like me do you?" He asks as they make another turn onto a busier street.

"Not as a person, no. I think you're a jerk." She says honestly because hey, when else is she going to get the chance to put an egotistical celebrity in their place?

"Well then it looks like I'm just going to have to prove you wrong." He looks over and catches her rolling her eyes. "By the way, I didn't catch your name love." He says focusing once more on the road.

"Caroline." She says "Caroline Forbes. Now can you please tell me where you're taking me before I call the police?"

"My place." He says

"Your place?"

"How else am I supposed to get home love?" He asks with yet another smirk. "As you might have noticed I am not in possession of my car at the moment."

"I'm sure that you have ten more cars just like it." She says narrowing her eyes at him and looking back out her window. He chuckles a little and veers onto a less busy street.

"So, Caroline, I'm interested in knowing more about this unyielding hatred of me." He says after a few moments of silence.

"There's not much more to tell, I just think you're a typical egotistical, selfish, jerk who is used to getting whatever he wants." He snickers at her.

"Well, there just might be more to me than you think Miss Forbes." He says. And she can't help but wonder what the tabloids don't know about him. "But, as I said before I guess I'll just have to prove you wrong."

"I sincerely doubt that you could even if you tried, _Mr. Mikaelson_." She replies

"Come on Caroline," He says "Get to know me. I dare you." _Damnit, _she thinks knowing full well that she is never able to stand down when confronted with a direct challenge, especially one as intriguing as this. But instead of answering she just gives him another eye roll. "Well, then let me guess some things about you then, if you're so keen on not getting to know me." When she doesn't reply he continues. "You grew up in a small town, somewhere in the west I imagine. You dated a couple football players in high school, even thought that one of them might be _the one. _You were probably even a cheerleader, am I right?" He asks raising his eyebrows and looking at her. Caroline can't reply because she's too busy staring at him wondering how he had gotten her life so dead on when he's known her for less than twenty minutes. "You moved out here to try to make your dreams come true. I'm guessing you wanted to be, a model? No, somehow I don't think that's it." He studies her a little bit before turning back to the road. "An actress, but when things didn't work out you went with your backup plan, which you never really wanted."

"A singer." She says looking out of the front windshield. "I wanted to be a singer. I grew up in Virginia, begged my mom to come down here to start over, pursue my rock-star fantasy and just get away from all the small-town gossip."

"And the cheerleading?" He asks with a grin.

"Team captain, two years running." She replies with a smile, remembering how important it had seemed back then.

"Well, small town boy, small town life, it wouldn't have been enough for you love." He says simply, finally pulling up to a gate. He stops the car and takes the keys out of the ignition. He turns to look at her wide-eyed expression. "Caroline, this might seem a bit odd but I was wondering if you wouldn't mind going out on a date with me later this week." She would have laughed if his expression hadn't been completely serious.

"Um, sure, I guess." She says shocked that he would want to see her again.

"Great." He says smiling, he hands her the keys and moves to get out of the car. "You can keep those." He says gesturing to the sunglasses and hat when his feet are back on the ground. He stands there for a moment looking at her flustered expression. "Can I get a number to call you at?" He asks

"Oh, yeah," She says reaching for her purse and pulling out a sharpie. She starts digging around looking for a piece of paper and when she can't find one she sheepishly looks at him, "I don't have any paper."

"Here," He says reaching out his arm and turning it over so the underside of it is open for her. Looking at him cautiously she uncaps the sharpie and starts writing her phone number on his arm.

"Just like high school." She says when she caps the sharpie again and he pulls his arm away. He smiles at her again.

"I hope to see you soon then love." He says and shuts the door. When he disappears past the gate Caroline shifts over to the driver's seat and takes a few calming breaths.

"What the hell just happened?" She whispers staring at the gate in front of her.

**PLEEEASE REVIEW! I love to hear from you guys!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Call

**Ugh, just warning you that this is a filler chapter. And honestly there is nothing worse to write than a filler chapter. But other than that enjoy!**

"Kat! This is serious!" Caroline says exasperated. She had just finished relaying the events of the day before to Katherine and she had been laughing almost the entire time.

"I'm sorry, Care, but honestly how do you meet these guys?" There are tears forming in Katherine's eyes from laughing so hard and Caroline just shrugs and shakes her head, laughing along.

"He probably thinks that I'm some sort of psycho. One minute I'm going on about how much I hate him and the next, I'm writing my number on his arm so that he can call me for a date." Caroline says taking a sip of her water. The two girls are standing in Katherine's apartment kitchen. The sun shines through the windows and Caroline can't stop smiling.

"Ok look, the guy is famous. He's got loads of money and I'll just say it, he's pretty damn hot." Caroline rolls her eyes, "So even if you hate him, I still don't see why you would turn down a celebrity for a date. Think of the places you could go! He'll probably jet you off to Paris or something for a croissant and some wine."

"I was thinking Rome," Caroline said with a laugh

"See! That's the spirit!" Katherine says playfully hitting Caroline on the arm.

"So how did it go with Damon?" Caroline asked. Katherine's face fell and she looked down to the ground.

"It was, ok, I guess." She says "I mean he's still clearly in love with me." She gives a small smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "I just, I didn't feel anything for him. At first it was just to make Stefan jealous but then I stayed because I knew how Damon felt and, I don't know, it was stupid." Katherine sighed. "Anyway, back to you and your guy," Katherine smiled evilly, "When do you think he's going to call?" Caroline rolled her eyes and shrugged.

Caroline is stretched out on the couch watching a movie when her phone buzzes on the couch next to her. Sighing she grabs the remote to pause the movie when she sees the caller ID and freezes. It simply says 'Original Productions' and with those two words Caroline's mouth goes dry. Once the movie is paused Caroline moves to pick up the phone, taking a deep breath before she answers.

"Hello?" She tries to sound normal but fails when her voice sounds a bit higher than it actually is.

"Is this Caroline Forbes?" Asks a bored female voice on the other line.

"Yes, this is she." She answers confused.

"My name is Anna Pearl, I'm Klaus Mikaelson's personal assistant." She explains and Caroline can't help but be a little annoyed. "He asked me to give you a call to set up a date." Caroline scoffs and shakes her head. Typical, she thinks, celebrities can't even manage their own schedules.

"You know what, Anna." Caroline says, standing from the couch and walking into the kitchen to get a bottle of water. "Can you tell Mr. Mikaelson that if he wants to set up a date with me than he can call me himself." She has no idea where this outburst comes from but it's probably from a lifetime dealing with self-righteous assholes like him.

"I'm sorry?" Anna asks, probably thinking she misheard Caroline.

"Look, I'm really sorry to put you in this position, but if he wants to set something up I'd rather talk to him directly."

"Talk to Mr. Mikaelson directly?" She whispers

"If he doesn't want to call me that's ok, then there's no date." Caroline is astounded at herself. But she's been used before, she's been played by guys who wanted nothing more from her than a one-night-stand and she doesn't want this to be one of those times. She doesn't care that it's Klaus Mikaelson, and she sure as hell doesn't care that he's famous.

"Ok," Anna says, confusion clear in her voice. "I'll tell him. Have a nice day Miss Forbes." She says slowly.

"You too, Anna." Caroline whispers and then a beeping tells her that the call is over. _I'm such an idiot. _She thinks, before setting her phone down with shaking hands and returning to the couch.

"Mr. Mikaelson?" Anna approaches him cautiously. She's his newest PA and has been there for less than a week. Which, in the grand scheme of things is a long time to work for any Mikaelson, there was one time that his younger brother had had a PA for only an hour before she quit. From his spot in the make-up chair Klaus looks up at Anna. "I called Miss Forbes like you asked," She looks nervous, which is normal but Klaus can't help but feel a little unsettled.

"And?" He urges her to go on. He doesn't know what it is about this Caroline Forbes but he is utterly intrigued by her. He wants to know more about the girl who wasn't afraid to talk back to him, to tell him how much she hated him. Just thinking about the memory brings a smirk to his face.

"She says that if you want a date, then you have to call yourself." This statement is met with silence. And then to Anna's complete astonishment, he laughs. _Klaus Mikaelson _the bad boy of Hollywood, the heart-breaker, owner of that infuriating smirk actually _laughs. _

"You're serious?" He asks with a genuine smile on his face.

"Yes sir."

"Alright." He says holding out his hand for Anna to hand him the phone she carries with her. "Read me the number."

"I have no idea what that was." Caroline says completely monotone. "There's just something about him that brings out the absolute worst in me! Who do I think I am, ordering around a celebrity?" Caroline is sitting across from Katherine on the sofa. After hanging up with Anna, Caroline had immediately called Katherine over to talk.

"You're Caroline Forbes." Katherine says with a smile reaching out to put her hand on Caroline's shoulder. "God knows that man needs a reality check, and if that reality check comes with blonde hair and an attitude then so be it. And besides, if he calls now then you know he's serious about this." Caroline puts her head in her hands and groans. From the kitchen table comes a buzzing sound as Caroline's phone goes off. Both girls' heads turn to stare at it before Katherine gets up and runs to see whose calling. When her jaw drops she slowly walks over to Caroline and hands it to her without a word. Caroline looks down to see 'Original Productions' written on the screen right below the words 'Incoming Call'. Looking back to Katherine she answers the phone.

"Hello?" She answers, her voice shaking. There's a soft chuckling on the other end.

"Did you think I wouldn't call love?" Klaus asks. Caroline looks at Katherine and mouths 'its him' and Katherine comes closer and presses her ear next to the phone to listen in.

"To be honest, I wasn't sure." Caroline responds, earning another chuckle.

"I was serious when I told you I was going to change your opinion of me." He says and Katherine raises her eyebrows.

"You're setting yourself up for failure then Mr. Mikaelson." Katherine stifles a laugh and Caroline nudges her with her shoulder as if to tell her to stay quiet.

"We'll just have to see about that then sweetheart." Caroline rolls her eyes at the pet name. "Shall we find a time for me to sweep you off your feet then?"

"We can set up a time for you to try." She retorts, and she can practically hear him smirk. "I'm free on Tuesday."

"Ok, then Tuesday it is Caroline." A shiver runs up her spine when he says her name. "I'll arrange to have you picked up at 7."

"You'll arrange for me to be picked up?" She asks with her eyebrows raised. "You're losing points already Klaus." He snickers.

"Very well, _I _will pick you up at 7." He says

"That's better. Can I trust your driving skills or should I have an ambulance on call?" She jokes

"Might want to have that ambulance on call." He says with a laugh "I'll see you Tuesday love."

"Tuesday." Caroline agrees before hanging up.

"Caroline Forbes, dare I say that you have Klaus Mikaelson wrapped around your pretty little finger?" Katherine asks, causing Caroline to laugh and loop her arm through her friend's.

"I think I need a drink." She says leading Katherine towards the door with a smile.

**Ok, so there that was. (ew.) sorry for the disgusting fillerness of that one. :) Hopefully I can make it up to you in the next one? Anyway, ITS THURSDAY AND TVD IS BACK! I'm personally hoping for some awesome Klaroline in this episode. Did you guys see the promo for The Originals yet? I've been fangirling over it for about a good three hours. My family thinks im insane with all the jumping around and screaming. :D But what can I say? I love me some badass Klaus. If you haven't seen it CHECK IT OUT! I'm already working on the next chapter of this so hopefully I'll have it up within the next week. Please review! I love hearing from you guys, it makes my smile like a little kid. ~Lia**


	4. Chapter 4: The Date

"Stefan!" At hearing his name Stefan Salvatore sighed, letting his head drop onto the back of his couch.

"What?" He shouted back, not wanting to get up for whatever pointless drama he was being called for. A few seconds later Rebekah came storming into the room, a very annoyed look on her face.

"Have you seen _this?_" The blonde asked tossing a magazine onto the table in front of him. Stefan sighed and reached forward to look at the cover. It showed a picture of Klaus and some blonde with a hat and sunglasses on. The headline below read: _Who is Nik's mystery girl? _Stefan sighed and tossed the magazine back onto the table leaning back into the couch. "That's your client Stefan! Your client and my _brother!_ He's seen waltzing around with some blonde bimbo and you're just _sitting_ there?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, your tone implies that I'm actually supposed to care. And he's not my client anymore, he fired me." Stefan replied matter-of-factly.

"He's still your friend, and your soon to be brother-in-law. _Talk to him._" She sneered pointing a finger at him. "Find out who that girl is." With that she spun on her heel and walked away from him. Stefan smiled as he watching her go. _God, he loved that woman. _

"Oh my God, _oh my God!"_ Caroline squealed in shock, picking up the magazine that had caught her eye.

"What? What is it?" Her friend Matt was looking at her, a worried expression on his face. When he saw the headline on the magazine she was holding he shook his head, the worry in his eyes disappearing. "Seriously Care?" He asked. "What do you care about this guy's love life?" He took the magazine from her hands and placed it back with the others on the stand.

"I don't care," She said hastily, glancing back at the cover. "It said that there was an interview with that hot guy from that one demon hunter show." She said trying to cover up her mistake. Matt rolled his eyes and they walked away from the news stand.

"So who is this guy you're going out on a date with?" He asked her giving her a sideway glance. Seeing the look of surprise on her face, he shrugged. "Katherine told me." He said.

"Oh, he's just some guy that I met…at the movie theater." She lied, relieved when it looked like he believed her.

"Do you know where he's taking you?"

"No, probably just dinner. Something low-key," She said, then added under her breath, "Hopefully." Matt nodded as they turned the corner.

"Stefan, mate, good to hear from you." Klaus smirked. He was just leaving his trailer and walking across the lot to get to his car.

"Klaus, I'm calling because of Rebekah," Stefan said

"Did something happen?" Klaus froze immediately thinking the worst. Sure she was a brat sometimes but at the end of the day Rebekah was his sister and he was extremely protective of her.

"She's fine," Stefan reassured him. "She just wants to know about the cover of this magazine she found."

"What magazine?" Klaus asked, genuinely confused.

"Something about you and a blonde in a car," Stefan trailed off as Klaus cursed under his breath. "Anything you want to tell me?" Stefan sounded bored.

"It's nothing Stefan, tell Rebekah that she can stop worrying." Without saying goodbye Klaus hung up the phone angrily. "Damn it." He said under his breath.

Later that night Caroline was standing outside of her apartment building dressed in a cute sundress, high heels and her hair in perfect curls. She pulled out her phone to check the time again. 6:57, her heart beat faster just looking at the numbers. As soon as she looked up she heard tires screeching into the parking lot. She raised her eyebrows as an expensive car pulled in front of her. She shook her head as Klaus stepped out and went around the front to open her door for her.

"Hello Caroline." He said as she approached the door.

"Klaus," she nodded, ignoring the shiver she got when he said her name. When the door was shut she watched him go back around the front to get to the driver's side. He slipped in and gave her a smile. "So where are we going?" She asked folding her hands in her lap to try to hide her nervousness.

"Just a little restaurant that I've heard good things about," He said, focusing his attention on his driving. "So Caroline, tell me about yourself." He said after a few moments of awkward silence.

"What do you want to know?" She asked looking sideways at him.

"Everything," He replied smoothly "Your hopes, dreams, everything you want in life." He looked over at her for a moment and then turned forward again.

"There's not much to tell, apparently you already know everything about me." She replied, earning a smirk from him. "What about you? Being a celebrity must be pretty interesting." He chuckled.

"Yes, it can be." He said simply, she pretended not to notice the emotion that passed through his eyes and the way his hands tightened on the steering wheel.

"Never mind," She said looking out her window. Next to her Klaus sighed, they'd been out for about ten minutes and already he felt he was screwing it up.

"There's just a lot that I miss out on." He says honestly.

"Like what?" She asked "You have a ton of money, obviously and a lot of power, what on earth is there that you can't do?"

"Well love, for starters, I've never been to one of those hot dog vendors. I've never been able to just enjoy some quiet. I've never been able to do things that I want when I want them." He expected to see pity in her eyes when he looked over at her but instead he saw curiosity. This wasn't him; he didn't do the whole heart-to-heart talks on the first date, or ever for that matter. Thankfully he was distracted when they came up to a fancy restaurant. "This is it." He said smiling at her.

Caroline's eyes widened at the building in front of her. It wasn't just that it was big, but that there were so many people outside of it. A line was going almost across the block just to get in. It looked more like a club than a restaurant. When she saw that there were even a few men holding cameras, her old insecurities from high school set back in. She remembered what it was like to have everyone judge you for who you were seen with. She swallowed nervously remembering the things that people used to say behind her back.

"Is this ok?" Klaus' voice brought her back to the present and she turned to look at him with a panicked look on her face.

"Actually, um," She swallowed again, tucking a piece of her blonde hair behind her. She felt bad for asking him this but she knew that she wasn't ready for that kind of public humiliation. "Could we go somewhere a little more…private?" She asked quietly. He smiled at her and turned the corner away from the restaurant.

"Of course love." He said, "Where did you have in mind?"

A little while later they were sitting on a park bench eating hotdogs from a nearby vendor. Klaus had seemed a little taken aback by her idea but he decided to go along with it anyway.

"So tell me more about things you haven't done." She said taking another bite of her hotdog. He laughed shaking his head.

"Why? So you can take me on a few more adventures before the night is over?" He raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged. "Why don't we talk about you?" He said trying to steer the conversation into an area where he felt less comfortable. "What's your family like?"

"I'm an only child." She said looking down at her feet. "My mom works a lot and I never really saw her much growing up, so we don't have much of a relationship now."

"And your father?" He pressed on, desperate to know more about her.

"He, left when I was really little. He shows up once every few years to get money or whatever he needs at that particular moment. Last time I saw him I was 16." She clears her throat awkwardly. "So what about you?" She looks at him expectantly.

"I have five siblings, Finn, Elijah, Rebekah Kol and Henrik. Finn is boring, Elijah is the reasonable one, Rebekah is," He pauses and laughs, "Rebekah is Rebekah, Kol is the unpredictable one and Henrik is his own person." Caroline smiles at the way he talks about his family. She doesn't ask about his parents, remembering reading somewhere that he didn't have much of a relationship with them.

"So, are you working on any new projects lately?" She asks him crumbling up the paper from the hotdog and tossing it into the garbage can next to her.

"Are you trying to get information out of me Miss Forbes?" He asks with that cocky smirk of his. She rolls her eyes.

"Just wondering," she says

"I thought you didn't like me anyway." He says winking.

"You're acting isn't bad, it's your personality that I could do without."

"I'm hurt Caroline." He says, placing his hand over his heart and giving her another smirk. "But to answer your question, I got a script for a new movie today, just a portion of it but I don't really know what to think about the character."

"Run it by me, I'm a good critic." She says moving so her arm rests on the back of the bench and her head is propped in her hand.

"I have no doubt about that sweetheart." He says with a smile, turning more towards her. "They want me to play this hybrid who is supposed to be the biggest badass around, the one true alpha male." Caroline scoffs and rolls her eyes. "He goes to New Orleans to hunt a witch down that is supposedly making a move against him and he meets this girl."

"Sounds interesting," Caroline says urging him on.

"The girl is a werewolf and apparently he gets her pregnant and—"

"Wait, what?" Caroline asks stopping him mid-sentence. "He gets someone pregnant? Isn't that one of the perks of being a vampire? Not having to worry about that kind of stuff?" She throws her head back laughing and he chuckles. "And besides isn't he technically dead? Last time I checked, dead guys aren't supposed to have sperm." Klaus shrugs, "So what happens?" She asks.

"I'm not quite sure yet," he admits "They only sent me a portion of the script."

"Ok, this sounds like a supernatural version of _Teen Mom._"

"So do you think I should take it?" He asks her

"Honestly, I think you would be good for the part, but the whole pregnancy story line is complete bullshit." She says and he smiles, "It'd be better if he went after the witch and didn't meet the girl, just fill the movie with constant gore and darkness and I'd watch it." She says

"I'll keep that in mind sweetheart." He says, a little in awe at her honesty. Caroline Forbes, he decided, was not like any other girl he'd come across.

**Ok there you go guys! Hope you liked it :) I would have had it up earlier but I was too busy trying to get over 4x20. I honestly don't know what to think, but whatever I have a Klaroline heart always and forever so I'm sticking with my OTP come hell or high water. Anyway, I have a tumblr if you guys want to follow me, my username is the same as on here. I love hearing from you guys so please leave a review! Until next time! ~Lia**


	5. Chapter 5: Paparrazzi

They were walking down the sidewalk, Caroline's arm looped through Klaus'. Occasionally people would give them an odd look and one person even came up to Klaus saying that he "looked like that one actor guy" but other than that most people were too absorbed in their phones to notice anything going on. In fact the whole night had seemed pretty uneventful up until the two of them turned the corner and saw the familiar sight of men with cameras. Klaus stiffened and it took Caroline a moment to realize why. Hastily they turned back around the corner but it was too late.

"Mr. Mikaelson!" One of them shouted, causing the others to turn in suit and catch a glance of Klaus' blond curls as they disappeared behind the corner of a building. Just like that, the whole of the city seemed to wake up. A girl stopped in her tracks whispering an "Oh my God," as she pulled her camera phone out and snapped a picture. Within seconds they were surrounded. Caroline turned around and around, trying to find an opening in between the cluster of bodies.

"Klaus, is this your mystery girl?" One of the reporters asked causing Caroline to freeze and turn towards the man. She looked at Klaus with a panicked expression on her face. He gave her a reassuring smile and turned back to the man. She saw him opening his mouth to answer and put her hand on his arm. He looked back at her confused. She stood on her tiptoes so that she could whisper something in his ear.

"What are you going to tell them?" She breathed. Everyone around them got really quiet, trying to hear what they were saying.

"What do you want me to say?" He asked her. She wasn't sure what they were exactly. She was intrigued by him, but she had no idea how he felt about her. She wanted to see him again but she wanted to be able to have a quiet relationship. The fact that she would never be able to have a quiet kind of relationship with him occurred to her. She took a moment to look at the group surrounding them.

"What do you want to say?" She asked hesitantly. He smirked at her and her heart fluttered for a moment. People were snapping pictures, taking videos, whispering things all around them.

"Mr. Mikaelson?" The reporter who asked the question spoke up again. Klaus looked up at him and put his arm around Caroline's waist pulling her closer to him.

"She's someone I met and asked out on a date." He said simply

"Miss! What's your name?" Another man asked holding a camera over his head and snapping a picture of her.

"Caroline." She said "C-Caroline Forbes." She stuttered.

"Now, if you don't mind letting us through." Klaus said pushing his way through the edge of the group.

Once they were far enough away from the mob of people Caroline let out a breath.

"Are you ok love?" He asked her

"Yeah, that was just" She gives a breathy laugh and takes a breath "unexpected." He smiles at this and they keep walking. "Klaus, what happens now?" She asks once they reach his car.

"Well, you get in the car and I take you home." He smirks, holding the door open for her to get in. Caroline rolls her eyes and then looks at him expectantly. "Sweetheart, I'll be honest with you. I would like to take you out again, but if you don't want to, this can end tonight. I'll call my publisher and have her make sure that none of this gets out. You don't have to do anything."

"What if I don't want this to end?" She asks quietly, looking down at her feet. He gently cups her chin and raises her head so she's looking at him.

"I'm not good Caroline. You need to know that." He takes a deep breath, "There's a lot about my life that nobody knows, a lot of darkness, a lot of pain. I don't want you to get brought into that unwillingly. If you want a relationship then that's great, but you have to know that it won't be easy."

"My whole life hasn't been easy Klaus." She says pulling away from his hand. "I'm ok with that, and yeah, you scare me. But it's a good scared, it's like when I moved away from my friends or when I went away to school. Scary, but exciting. I know this is our first date, and before this I didn't even like you, but the way that we talked today, it was like I've known you for years." He smiles

"What are you saying sweetheart?" He asks, stepping a little closer to her.

"I'm saying I wanna give this a chance." His face lights up and she smiles seeing him so happy. Before she can say anything else he's kissing her. It's the perfect first kiss. She's leaning against his car as he holds her face in his hands kissing her gently but passionately. When he pulls away he brushes a curl away from her face and then helps her into the car.

* * *

He drops her off some time later with a promise to call her the next day. Caroline walks back up to her apartment in a daze lightly trailing her fingers over her lips thinking of their kiss. She knows she's taking a huge risk, that she's putting herself out there knowing that she'll probably get hurt she knows that things are moving fast. But she's spent her entire life being put second, being careful, treading carefully so that she doesn't get hurt. For once it's nice to just live. Who cares what happens tomorrow? Caroline Forbes is living for today.

Loud music brings her out of her thoughts as she walks past Katherine's apartment. Caroline rolls her eyes knowing that she's probably dancing around drunk trying to forget about Damon. Caroline decides to let her be for now as she starts unlocking her door. Behind her Katherine's apartment door opens and she turns to see Kat hanging off some guy kissing him. Caroline clears her throat and the two spring apart.

"Care!" Kat says excitedly and obviously drunk out of her mind. "How was your date with the asshole?" She slurs

"Um, I'm gonna go." The guy says shuffling awkwardly down the hallway occasionally bumping into a wall.

"Bye Mason!" Katherine yells to his retreating figure. "I had a great time." She giggles and hiccups turning back to Caroline.

"Do you need me to call Elena and tell her you're drunk again? You know she'll call someone to drag you back to rehab," Caroline threatens crossing her arms in front of her chest. At this Kat sobers up slightly.

"You wouldn't," she snarls but her eyes are full of worry. Elena was Katherine's twin sister, the golden girl that everyone back in Mystic Falls just _adored. _Katherine and Elena hadn't really talked since Kat left home to move to the big city. Their parents had died in a horrible car crash and after that the two girls drifted apart. Katherine became reckless, going out late to party and Elena stayed in writing in her diary and paying close mind to her studies. Back in school Katherine and Caroline had always gotten along pretty well because of a mutual dislike of Elena after a rumor she had spread about Caroline and Tyler Lockwood making out under the bleachers at cheer practice. So when Caroline graduated and decided that she wanted to make it big she followed her old high school friend and ever since they had become almost joined at the hip. Although Kat didn't let a lot of people see it, the death of her parents left a huge gap in her heart, one that she tried desperately to fill with drinking, drugs and one night stands. Caroline was really the only one who knew about how much Kat resented the people in Mystic Falls because they had taken Elena's side in everything after their parents died.

"You're right I wouldn't," Caroline admitted "But you need to stop this Kat, if you keep this up then you're going to end up in serious trouble." Caroline sighed, and then walked to her friend giving her a hug. They stood there hugging for a while until Caroline silently led Kat into her apartment and shut the door behind them. "Sit," she ordered pushing her onto the couch.

"Care, I'm fine." She said laying down and closing her eyes, "I just need sleep." Caroline smiled and shook her head as she filled a glass with water and set it on the end table next to the couch.

"It'll be ok Kat," she whispered as her breathing steadied and she fell asleep.

* * *

**I'm so sorry for the late update! I've been having computer problems like you wouldn't believe. So if I ever don't update for a while that's probably why. Anyway, I tried to make this chapter as decent as I could but I've rewritten it about 8 times and it's still not to my liking so I'm leaving it as is. Sorry for the suckiness! Also, I know that their relationship is moving really fast but that's partially because I'm assuming that when someone gets in a relationship with a celebrity their relationship has to move fast so that's how i'm writing it for this story. The other part is that I kind of want to skip past all of the pre-relationship stuff and just jump right into it but I felt it needed the build up. (sigh) oh well, I'll just keep trudging on through. :) thank you for reading guys it really means a lot to me! You honestly have no idea. Please review, I love to hear from you guys! Until next time! ~Lia**


	6. Chapter 6: Family Matters

He was late. This was now their fifth date and he had never been late before. Caroline sat on the edge of her seat her foot bobbing impatiently waiting for either her phone to ring or for her door to buzz. Finally having enough she picked up her phone and dialed his cell. It rang four times and then cut off abruptly. "What the hell!" She yelled glaring at her screen. Did he just hang up on her? "What an assh—" she muttered under her breath furiously typing an angry text to him when her phone buzzed and an unknown number popped up on her screen. Clicking answer she held the phone up to her ear.

"Hello?" She couldn't help but sound annoyed.

"Uh, hi my name is Stefan Salvatore I'm a friend of Klaus'," the man sounded taken-aback. But then again she probably would too if she called someone she didn't know and they snapped at her before she could even introduce herself.

"Are you the one marrying his sister?" She asked wondering why this guy was calling her.

"'Yeah, that'd be me. Look, he wanted me to call you to tell you that something came up at the studio and that I should come pick you up and bring you over to my place until he could get away."

"Um, no offense Stephen but—"

"It's Stefan."

"Ok, no offense _Stefan, _but I don't know you so I won't be going anywhere with you."

"I thought you often got into cars with men that you didn't know." Her jaw drops. She doesn't know whether to scoff at him or to laugh because she kind of set herself up for that one.

"Ugh, fine." She says standing "Do you need the address?"

"No, I'm already downstairs." He says and she raises her eyebrows even though he can't see her.

"I'll be down in a minute." She says and then hangs up.

* * *

She likes this Stefan guy, he has a lot of sass and it seems like he's not afraid to put Klaus in his place which she appreciates. They drive for a while until Stefan pulls into a long driveway lined with trees. They pull up to a huge mansion and Caroline's eyes widen. "You live here?" She asks astonished and a little bit jealous.

"Technically it's Bekah's." He replies stopping the car. "Speak of the devil," Stefan mutters as the get out of the car and an extremely beautiful blonde woman comes towards them.

"Kol showed up." She says completely ignoring Caroline. She's heard stories about her from Klaus and so far what he's said seems to fit her perfectly. She also recognizes the name Kol, Klaus' younger, unpredictable and rude brother. She swallows nervously and holds her hand out for Rebekah.

"Hi, I'm Caroline." She says with a smile. Bekah looks at her hand giving her a look that says _like hell I'm shaking your hand._

"I know who you are." She says as Caroline drops her hand awkwardly. "Stefan," she spins back to look at her fiancée, "Lexi called and she wants to set up an interview with Nik about _her." _Stefan rolls his eyes and turns back to Caroline.

"Lexi is Klaus' publicist." He explains and Caroline nods. After a few seconds of glaring at Caroline, Rebekah grabs Stefan's arm and leads him inside. Caroline follows silently, cursing Klaus for putting her into such an awkward situation.

* * *

He was expecting to be out of there by six. But it was seven-thirty now and he was getting annoyed. His co-star had shown up an hour late and then thrown one of her usual fits and so the production was put on hold for two hours. He ran his hand down his face in frustration knowing that he was going to be in so much trouble when he finally got around to his date. He looked back to the script he was supposed to be memorizing when his phone buzzed.

**I'm going to kill you.**

He smiled at her text. She was positively adorable when she was angry with him. He could picture her now sitting in Stefan's living room seething in anger because he wasn't there.

**Want me to make it up to you later? ;)**

**Your family is here. **

The smirk on his face slowly fell away. She was supposed to be there with Stefan. Bekah was supposed to be away in Paris for something, what the hell did she mean his family was there? Panicking he dialed her number.

"You're dead to me Mikaelson," She hissed when she answered.

"What do you mean my family is there?" He asked her. Before she could answer he heard her yell Kol's name in frustration.

"Hello brother," Kol's voice replaced Caroline's "If you don't get here soon I'm going to take your girl with me. She's a feisty little thing."

"Kol give me back the damn phone!" Caroline shouted from the background. Klaus scowled in annoyance.

"Are you getting here soon or do I have to sit through more of this?" Caroline had the phone back and he could hear yelling in the background.

"I'll be there as soon as I can sweetheart." He promised and was already on his feet going to find the director to tell him that he had somewhere he had to be.

* * *

Once she hung up with Klaus she sat back down on the on the couch as far away from Kol as she could. He had been making inappropriate jokes all night and she was _this close _to slapping him, but she didn't want Klaus' family to get the wrong impression about her. A month, a _month _and she had survived the press, the fangirls and Klaus himself. She'd be damned if she couldn't handle herself against his idiot kid brother.

"So," Kol says giving her a suggestive look.

"No," She snaps refusing to look at him "Whatever inappropriate question you're planning on asking next I refuse to answer it." Stefan snickered from the couch across from them.

"Have you guys done it yet?" Caroline's eyebrows shoot up and Rebekah starts choking on the sip of wine she just took. Stefan pats her on the back and Caroline turns abruptly towards Kol who's smirking at her with an evil glint in his eye.

"Shut up Kol," Bekah snaps once she stops coughing long enough to form a sentence.

"It's a perfectly reasonable question sister," He says and then focuses his attention once more on Caroline. "So, how was he?"

Ok yeah so they'd done it. But she wasn't about to go into the details of her and Klaus' sex life with anyone. Least of all his family. It's not like they'd been sleeping with each other for long, she's not that kind of girl. So they'd waited, up until a week ago. She still blushes when she thinks about it.

"Kol," Stefan says with unmistakable warning in his tone, sensing that Caroline is about to break. "You know that Klaus will kill you if he hears you talking like that," Caroline smiles at the look on Kol's face. She's heard about Klaus' temper but never actually seen it, not that she wants to. He's warned her numerous times that he's not good for her, that he's dangerous but she's starting to think that he just wants to keep up his bad boy persona.

"How far away is the studio?" Caroline asks Stefan

"About twenty minutes," he replies and Caroline nods in understanding.

* * *

The twenty minutes pass in awkward silence. Kol shuts up after Stefan's comment about Klaus and Rebekah hasn't said much since they all sat down. After a few more moments the front door opens and Caroline almost audibly sighs in relief. Klaus steps into the room with a wide eyed expression, taking in a frazzled looking Caroline, a smug looking Kol, an annoyed looking Rebekah and an awkward looking Stefan.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" He asks looking from Kol to Rebekah and back to Kol.

"I decided to cancel my trip at the last minute," Rebekah says staring daggers into the back of Caroline's head.

"Heard you had a new girlfriend," Kol says taking a step closer to Caroline, "I wanted to see if I approved or not." Caroline rolls her eyes and huffs, glaring at Klaus.

"Is there a reason you're so late?" She asks him slightly hopeful, because then she won't have to publically tar and feather him. He gives her one of his famous smirks and steps forward to give her a quick peck on the cheek.

"Not one good enough," He whispers and she rolls her eyes. "Shall we leave then? I assume you've had enough of my siblings' antics for one day." She nods and turns back to grab her coat and bag from the side of the couch.

"I honestly don't know what he sees in her," she hears Rebekah whisper to Stefan as she walks past. Stefan gives her an apologetic look and Caroline gives him a small smile before turning back to Klaus, who thankfully didn't hear anything.

"Let's go," Caroline says taking his hand in hers and walking out of the gigantic house.

* * *

**I know, it's been a while. (hangs head in shame) I've just not been in the mood to write this for some reason. Sorry for the lack of Klaroline interaction in this chapter, I'll try to put more in the next :). Also, I know that Rebekah seems a bit bitchy but she has her reasons and she won't always be that way I promise. Things are finally getting to where I want them to go and to do that you've probably noticed that I did a bit of a time leap. (Sorry if that bugs you,) Next chapter they'll be on another date and maybe Caroline will see a bit of dark Klaus? ;) And things are gonna start to pick up pace soon if all goes as planned. Thanks for sticking with me through all the horrible filler chapters! ~Lia**


	7. Chapter 7: Scars

_ "Are you going to kill me?" She asks playfully as he ties the blindfold over her eyes. _

_ "Come on love," He whispers in her ear sending shivers down her spine, "You know I'd never hurt you." _

_ "So if you're not planning on killing me, can you at least tell me where we're going? I really hate surprises." He knew that she wouldn't make this easy for him. The feisty spitfire blonde from the car that first night is making another appearance and he loves it. He wants to make it up to her, the fact that he had to leave early on their last date. It had been only their second and she had been willing to give him a chance, and then that blasted director called him demanding he come in for a reshoot. _

_ "Patience sweetheart," He says taking her hand and leading her up the stairs in his house to the room he has never shown anyone. But for some odd reason he wants to show her after only knowing her for a two weeks. He positions her in the middle of the room, leaving his hands on her arms. "You can take the blind fold off now." He says taking a step away from her. She unties the knot at the back of her head and the fabric over her eyes falls away leaving her to look at the amazing painting in front of her. She was never particularly fascinated by paintings or drawings but this one has a depth that just calls to her._

_She takes a few steps forward before suddenly realizing that he's still in there with her. "What is all this?" She whispers in awe. He smiles and comes behind her as she shifts through various sketches and paintings on the table before her._

_ "This is me," He says simply and her eyes go wide in understanding._

_ "_You _did these?" She asks in astonishment looking back to the artwork. Her hand pauses over the drawing that he did only a few days ago. It's her, from the night he asked her out in the car, she's leaning over, her curly hair covering some of her face as she writes numbers on his arm. She swallows and steps back, dropping the picture back onto the table. _

_ "Caroline?" He asks confused as she turns her back to him. _

"_Why are you doing this?!" She asks throwing her hands up and spinning around to look at him. "People don't just _do _things like this." Ok, she did _not _mean for any of that to come out. He takes a step closer and she tries to ignore her heart pounding in her chest._

_ "I fancy you." He says. Plain, simple, to the point, Klaus Mikaelson is not one to beat around the bush. Caroline scoffs, looking away from him and shifting her weight awkwardly. It's not like she hasn't had guys liking her before, it's just that none of those men were super famous British guys. She swallows before she can look back at him. _

_ "Why?" She whispers, as he takes another step closer. They're less than a foot away now and he can see her shaking slightly. _

_ "Isn't it obvious Caroline? From the minute I met you, you were different than all those other girls. You weren't intimidated by me. You're not afraid of anything. You're brave, and strong, confident, radiant." _

_ "This is insane; we've known each other for less than a month. You're this famous actor who everyone adores. Everyone knows who you are and people I've gone to school with my entire life still have trouble remembering my name." _

_ "Why are you fighting this?" He asks "You said you wanted to give this a chance so why, all of the sudden are you fighting?"_

_ "Because!" She's yelling now and tears are threatening to spill over. "Because I don't do things like this. I don't take chances, I live knowing exactly what to expect from every day and the fact that I have no control over this whole relationship scares me." She's babbling and she knows it but what she's saying is true. "I've never been anyone's first choice Klaus," Her voice drops to a whisper and he takes the final step forward and kisses her softly. _

_ "Well get used to it Caroline," He says when he pulls away from her, "Because you're my first choice." _

"So, any new hobbies I'm going to be seeing tonight?" She asks and he smirks in response.

"Sorry to disappoint love, but no, it's just dinner tonight." Klaus replies as they pull up to a restaurant.

"We're actually going out in public?" She asks in disbelief. For their past dates he's made efforts to make sure that they're in places that the press can't get to them.

"You're not my dirty little secret Caroline." He assures her as he parks the car and shuts off the engine so he can turn towards her. "I know that it seems like I've been hiding you but it's only because I know what these people are capable of." She nods and opens her door and steps out nervously. He comes behind her and snakes an arm around her waist kissing her temple lightly.

Throughout the entire dinner her heart is beating wildly in her chest. People look over at them every couple of seconds whispering under their breath. A group of girls catch her eye and they snicker turning away quickly. Her old insecurities from high school start to bubble to the surface and she completely misses the story that Klaus is telling her about the time he was in London with Kol and Rebekah.

"Caroline?" He asks when he sees the look on her face, "Is everything ok?" He looks worried and she looks back to him suddenly, her eyes wide and her palms sweating. She shakes her head a little and looks down.

"Everyone is looking at us," she whispers looking down at her lap. He takes a moment to look around and sees that she's right. Almost every eye in the crowded restaurant is trained on their table.

"They're just jealous of you sweetheart," He tells her, hoping to settle her nerves. She shakes her head in response.

"Can we go somewhere else?" Her voice is so quiet as she looks up at him pleadingly and his heart almost breaks at the worry in her eyes. He nods and stands holding his hand out for her to take.

He leads her outside quietly and brings her to the car. "Klaus?" She asks after they drive in silence for a little while. When he doesn't respond she continues, "I'm sorry, it's just the way that they were looking at me," She trails off and takes a deep breath before she continues. "It was like high school all over again. They judgment from people who don't even know you."

"Caroline, I don't want you to think that I'm ashamed of what we're doing," He says and he sounds so vulnerable that she feels worse.

"I know, it's just that I'm not ready for that kind of publicity yet."

"How about we make a compromise?" He asks finally and she nods. "I have to be at this party this weekend," He says "If you come with me, we can go where ever you want on dates for the next month."

"Planning a little far ahead aren't we Mr. Mikaelson?" She jokes, but she feels better knowing that he hasn't gotten sick of her yet. "But, sure, I agree to your compromise." He grins and his dimples flash in response.

Sometime later she has her head resting on his chest, and he is tracing lazy patterns on her bare back. Everything is perfect until Klaus' phone rings from the dresser across the room. Sighing he gently pushes Caroline off of him and stands, grabbing his jeans from the floor and sliding them on. When he turns to grab the phone Caroline catches sight of an ugly jagged scar going down almost the entire length of his back. In an instant she's off the bed and standing behind him, holding the sheet from the bed around her body.

"What is this?" She asks him running her fingers around the rough skin. He freezes, the ringing phone forgotten completely.

"Caroline," He growls. He had forgotten, normally he was so careful, having someone cover it up with makeup before he had to do a shirtless scene in a movie or for a photo-shoot. Or covering it with a shirt, it was a rare occasion when he forgot to hide it. When they had had sex before he had been careful to hide it from her but this time he had completely forgotten.

"Klaus, what is this?" She asks again a little more forcefully. "Did someone do this to you?" He turns slowly, his expression guarded. She won't back down, she won't let him push her away Caroline decides.

"It's nothing." He tells her gruffly, moving to pick up his shirt that was haphazardly thrown over the chair in the corner.

"Niklaus," She says, causing him to turn abruptly and approach her threateningly. Caroline stands her ground, lifting her chin and looking him straight in the eye.

"_Don't call me that."_ He hisses, he was breathing fast, and his eyes were burning with fury.

"Then don't shut me out." She shouts, "Tell me what that is." His jaw twitches and some of the fury in his eyes disappears. "I've never seen it before, but it looks like you've had it for a long time." Her voice was quieter now, soothing. "Please, Klaus." They stood there for a few moments just staring each other. Then he took her hand and led her to sit on the bed next to him. He held her hand in his lap staring at their entwined fingers.

"I was 13," He said softly. "Mikael came home from the office and saw me and Rebekah playing in the backyard. He was angrier than I had ever seen him. He came over and grabbed my wrist yanking me back into the house with him; he left Rebekah sitting in the mud crying out of fear. When we got inside he shoved me at the wall with enough force that the dry wall cracked. He started screaming things about me not being his child, that everything bad in his life was my fault. Apparently my mother had had an affair and I was the unfortunate result of that affair." He chuckled darkly and his whole body tensed as Caroline rested her other hand over his. "When Elijah came into the room to see what all the yelling was about Mikael calmed down a little." He pauses for a second to take a shaky breath. "Later that night when I was getting something for Elijah in the garage Mikael cornered me again. He had this look in his eye; it was the scariest thing that I had ever seen. He reached over to grab a tire iron."

"He hit you with a tire iron?" Caroline gasped; and he finally looked up to meet her eyes.

"I turned around right before it hit me." He stated. Caroline couldn't believe that someone that was supposed to love him unconditionally could do such a horrible thing. She swallowed trying to put into words what she was feeling.

"He had no right!" She finally said staring at the ground, fury building inside of her. "It wasn't your fault! Your mom had an affair and yet he punishes you for it? What a coward." She says looking up into his eyes. He was looking at her with a mix of awe and confusion. "Did you at least hit him back?" She asks and to her surprise he chuckles.

"No, love, I didn't hit him. Elijah came in a few minutes later because he heard me scream and found me unconscious with a puddle of blood around me. They brought me to a hospital and soon after I got back my mother packed us all up and got away."

"Where is he now?"

"Last I heard he was somewhere around New Orleans, but that was a year ago."

"He deserves to burn in hell. No," Caroline stands up pulling her hand out of his and pacing back and forth in front of him. "He deserves to burn in a_ special _kind of hell. If I ever see that sorry son of a bitch I swear to God that I'm—" She was cut off by Klaus' lips crashing onto hers.

"I think I'm falling in love with you." He whispers when they finally break apart. Caroline positively beams up at him, practically radiating joy. She reaches up and pulls his head back down to hers.

"I think I'm falling for you too," She whispers against his lips. "But still, if I ever come into contact with Mikael, I will not be held accountable for my actions against him."

"Love, if Mikael ever comes near you, I'll be rushing you off to some foreign country until he's gone." He means it and she knows it. She wonders if it's too soon to be feeling this way about him but all of her rational thoughts are pushed from her mind as he starts kissing her again.

* * *

**Review please! **


	8. Chapter 8: Party

"Kat, why don't you come with me?" Caroline asked hopefully. From her spot face down on the couch Kat groaned. "Please, don't leave me alone," Caroline pleaded, "I'm going to have to meet his older brothers." Klaus had called her earlier to relay this message and she was freaking out to say the least.

"So what you want me to be your buffer in case things get bad?" Kat asked, flipping over and sitting up so she could give her friend a hard look.

"Kat, his sister hates me and his younger brother spent all his time hitting on me. I don't know what to expect from these other ones, please Kat," She gave her friend the puppy look and Kat sighed.

"Fine, but I have nothing to wear so we have to go dress shopping ok? And you're buying lunch too, it's the least you can do." Caroline grinned and hugged her friend tightly.

* * *

The weekend came rather quickly and the day of the party Caroline was extremely nervous. She and Katherine had spent practically the whole day getting ready and by the time five o'clock came around they were standing in Caroline's bathroom putting the finishing touches on their make-up and hair. Katherine's dress was a floor length, sleeveless, black, ball gown. The bodice had a few sequins here and there and the skirt flowed around her in an ocean of fabric. She was wearing her hair in full curls that fell around her shoulders and down her back gracefully.

Caroline's dress was blue, the kind of blue that complimented her eyes but didn't over exaggerate them. There was one strap going over her right shoulder and the top was fitted to her perfectly but the bottom fell loosely around her legs. She had her curly hair in a low bun and a few of her hairs had slipped out and were framing her face elegantly.

"We look hot," Katherine said after they had finished their last minute touch ups.

"We'd better!" Caroline laughed bumping her shoulder with Kat's, "This is pretty much my official coming out as Klaus' girlfriend," She laughed nervously and Kat opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by a knock on the door. With one final glance in the mirror the two girls made their way to the door. As Caroline unlocked the door and pulled it open Kat went to grab their wraps and clutches.

"Hi," she said as she opened the door wider letting Klaus come into the apartment. "You look handsome," she commented taking in the sight of him in a suit and tie.

"And you look," he paused, looking her up and down with that smirk he wore so well her heart fluttered and she could feel herself blush a little, "ravishing." He said after a moment and then leaned in and kissed her chastely on the lips.

"Ok," Kat said coming back into the room and giving the couple a look, "If I'm going to be the

rolled her eyes.

"You must be Kat," Klaus said stepping forward and taking her hand, kissing it lightly.

"And you're Klaus Mikaelson," Kat retorted pulling her hand away, "If you hurt my best friend I'll chop off you balls and feed them to an alligator." With that threat she walked passed them and disappeared down the hallway.

"I like her," Klaus said taking Caroline's arm and leading her out of the apartment.

* * *

As their limo pulled up in front of a huge event hall Caroline's heart hammered in her chest. Her eyes met Kat's and they exchanged glances of disbelief that they were actually going to party like this. Klaus got out first, holding his hand out to help Kat. After she was out and he had taken Caroline's arm securely in his, he led the two girls past the line of cameras into the huge ballroom. The two girls looked around with their jaws slightly dropped before Kat spied a waiter with champagne.

"Later lovebirds," she said as she went after the waiter.

"She's an interesting character," Klaus said as they both watched Kat go.

"Yeah, she's been through some rough stuff, and it left her kind of damaged but she's a great friend." Klaus eyes Caroline curiously before sliding his arm around her waist and leading her towards a group of people in the corner. Among them she recognized Stefan and Rebekah and her heart clenched, remembering what Rebekah said to Stefan about her. Despite her insecurities about facing Rebekah, Caroline managed to smile as they approached the group.

"Caroline I would like you to meet some of my siblings," Klaus said looking at two of the men in the group. They both had brown hair and looked similar to each other. "This is Elijah," he gestured to the older of the two men who gave her a kind smile, "And this is Kol," The younger of the two gave her a suggestive wink and then took her hand, kissing her knuckles.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet the infamous Caroline," he said with his eyebrows raised.

"I'm honored to meet you both, Klaus talks about you all the time," Kol and Rebekah snorted, trying to hold back laughter.

"I'm sure he does," Elijah said warmly in a way that made Caroline immediately like him. At that moment, Caroline saw Kat coming towards them with an annoyed look on her face.

"Uh oh," Caroline said under her breath as she carefully excused herself from the group and made her way towards the brunette. "Everything ok Kat?" She asked

"Some bitch called me a cheap whore," she said through clenched teeth.

"Why would she say that?" Caroline asked

"I kind of hit on her date," Kat said sheepishly and Caroline scoffed but smiled at her friend.

"Come on," she said leading her back towards Klaus. "Kat, uh, this is Klaus' family, that's Rebekah, Kol, Stefan and Elijah." She introduced, gesturing to each person in turn. Kat smiled and nodded to everyone politely but Caroline could tell that she was still bothered about the woman's comment.

"Kat," Elijah said and Kat's eyes snapped up to meet his, "Is that short for something? Katerina?" He guessed, earning a small, genuine smile from Kat which made Caroline almost sigh in relief.

"Close," she replied, "It's Katherine,"

"Katerina suits you," Elijah said and Kol and Rebekah shared a look at his comment. Kat blushed a little bit before Elijah held out his arm for her, "Would you like to dance sweet Katerina?" He asked and Kat nodded and took his arm.

"Well that was," Kol said as the five of them stared at Katherine and Elijah's retreating figures. "odd," Caroline laughed and gave Klaus a look before he too held out his arm for her to take.

"Care to dance love?"

"Of course," she replied with a grin and took his arm, letting him lead her onto the dance floor.

* * *

They spent hours dancing together. Klaus would introduce her to different people occasionally and he seemed in a relatively good mood for the majority of the night. Glancing around the room Caroline noticed that Elijah and Kat were deep into a conversation and occasionally she would laugh or smile and he would return a genuine smile for her. Kol had long since disappeared with a girl and Rebekah and Stefan were dancing close. Caroline smiled, happy that everything seemed to go smoothly for once. She looked back to her date and saw that he was giving her one of his signature Klaus looks.

"What?" She asked suddenly feeling self-conscience.

"You look beautiful sweetheart," He murmured as he pulled her closer to his chest. She smiled and rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes as they danced to the music. "Thank you for coming tonight,"

"Well when you gave me that adorable puppy look I couldn't really say no," She teased him pulling away so that she could look into his eyes. He chuckled and leaned down to kiss her tenderly. "So Elijah and Kat seem pretty cozy, I don't think they've left each other's side all night." Caroline said after a few moments of silence.

"I don't know what she sees in him," Klaus commented looking over his shoulder at the couple who were still talking. "He's pretty boring, he doesn't really seem her type."

"He's not really," Caroline agreed, "She normally goes for the guys who will take what they want from her and then throw her out to the curb like she's trash." She said bitterly

"Well," Klaus said, "I think I can assure you that Elijah won't do that to her," Caroline smiled in response and went back to resting her head against his chest. After a few more minutes she felt him tense and she looked up quickly to see a hard look on his face.

"What?" She asked worriedly and moved to turn and see what he was looking at but he held her tighter and more securely to him so that she couldn't move around. "Klaus what is it?"

"Mikael," he breathed and her whole body froze in a mixture of shock, anger and fear. Finally she broke out of his grip and turned to see a blonde man enter the room. He was shaking hands with many of the people Klaus had introduced her to earlier.

"I thought he was in New Orleans," Caroline stated quietly looking from Mikael back to Klaus who was still frozen in place.

"He was but that was at least a year ago," His voice sounded dead, and it was almost like his whole body had shut down. Caroline was torn between trying to comfort him and going to slap Mikael hard across the face for what he had done to Klaus.

"Klaus," she said softly, moving in front of him, blocking his line of sight. He looked down at her for a moment before speaking.

"I need to go find Bekah and make sure Stefan brings her home, go stay with Elijah until I get back." He told her. He started moving to go towards Stefan and Rebekah before turning around to face her again, "Don't get any ideas sweetheart," he warned her and then he was gone. She turned back towards Mikael again. He laughing with some of the other men and she could see his eyes flicker to Klaus for a second. Her whole being erupted in fury and she wanted to kill him right then and there.

**Sorry for the late update! I'll try to get it up faster next time! There really are no excuses except for laziness...**


	9. Chapter 9: Mikael

She as a split second from marching over to that bastard and giving him a piece of her mind when she remembers that Klaus wants her to go to Elijah. Normally she wouldn't let him boss her around because she's Caroline Forbes damn it and she doesn't take orders from anyone. But then she remembers how he has basically lived in fear of this man his entire life and she doesn't want to cause him any additional pain. So instead she turns around and goes towards Elijah and Kat. Before they can ask what's going on she relays the information back and Elijah's face falls. He glances to where Klaus is arguing with Rebekah and then he looks back to Caroline.

"What are we supposed to do?" She asks feeling utterly helpless.

"We have to wait," he says and continues as he sees that she's about to argue with him on this. "If he makes a move towards Niklaus then we can intervene but I don't want to cause a scene here."

"Not cause a scene?" Caroline laughs humorlessly. "No, you know what, screw that. He _hurt_ him Elijah, and I don't want to see him hurt again. We both know that he probably knew that Klaus would be at this party tonight,"

"Caroline," Elijah says trying to calm her anger that is quickly boiling over. Kat is looking at her wide eyed.

"Elijah, let her go." Kat says putting her hand on Elijah's arm. "He can't do anything to her with all these people around and I don't think that Klaus would let him anyway." Elijah sighs and then glances back to Klaus.

"He'll kill me for this," He warns her

"Then tell him it was my idea," Caroline says defiantly. Poor Elijah never had a chance against the joint forces of Caroline Forbes and Katherine Petrova, so really he has no choice but to give in. HE gives her a quick warning to be careful because Mikael has quite a temper he nods, giving her his affirmation to go ahead in her conquest.

She takes a final breath to try to put her anger in check and glances over at Klaus one last time before facing the monster, she knows that he will be furious with her for putting herself in this kind of situation but she doesn't care. She's not afraid of Mikael. He's just a bully, and one who deserves to be put in his place for what he did. For just once she wants to do something for Klaus, _she _wants to go out of her way to protect _him _from something. She walks forward with confidence she didn't know she had and taps Mikael Mikaelson on the shoulder. He turns with a smile already on his arrogant face.

"Hello miss," he says "To what do I owe the pleasure?" He asks, to anyone else it would sound polite but Caroline has known her share of assholes and the way he talks practically screams asshole.

"Mr. Mikaelson my name is Caroline Forbes." She begins and smiles a little when a glimmer of recognition goes through his eyes. "In case you didn't know, I'm dating your son Klaus."

"Ah, well Niklaus deserves a girl like you." He says with a fake smile, his eyes are blazing with fury at the blonde.

"Thanks you, I appreciate that." She says with an equally fake smile. She can beat him at this game. If he wants to be a jerk to her then she'll just bring back good old bitchy Caroline. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Elijah saying something to Klaus with a hand against his chest, holding him back. Klaus looks furious, as if he could single-handedly murder the entire room with his eyes. "I just wanted to let you know what a great man your son is. And I think a lot of that has to do with you Mr. Mikaelson." He looks shocked to say the least, glancing over at Klaus for a split second. She can tell that he's wondering what Klaus has told her about him. She continues with that sickly sweet smile on her face. "You see, if he hadn't grown up with such a pitiful excuse for a father I don't think he would have had the guts to get to where he is now." Her heart is racing in her chest, but her smile stays in place.

"How dare—" He begins but Caroline cuts him off.

"No, how dare you." She snarls, her smile dropping. "How dare you punish a little kid for the mistakes of his mother. How dare you continue to make his life miserable just because he refuses to live in fear of you! How _dare _you think that nobody could ever love him. You had, no _have _no right to say such things to him. Stay away from him Mikael." She says threateningly spinning on her heel to walk away from him, releasing a breath. A hand grabs her elbow though and spins her back around. Mikael has a menacing smile plastered on his face as he leans close to her ear.

"I would watch your mouth Miss Forbes." He whispers menacingly. Caroline's breath hitches and her heart almost stops. "We wouldn't want anything to happen to that pretty little face of yours. I'm sure Niklaus has shown you my work before." He pulls away from her and releases her elbow. "Now why don't we smile and go back to our worthless little mutt." He briefly makes eye-contact with someone over her shoulder and then slips his fake smile back on. "It was nice talking to you Miss Forbes, I hope to see you again in the future," He says releasing her elbow. He turns and walks away to chat with another group of men.

Caroline doesn't realize that she's shaking until she feels a hand on her arm. Looking up she sees Klaus' worried expression.

"Caroline," He whispers, he is in complete awe of her. She just single-handedly stood up to the one person who petrified him since he was a child and she did so without even flinching. Caroline gives him a shaky smile and he wraps his arms around her, stroking her hair when she buries her face into his chest and tries to hold back tears. Her breathing is shallow and it comes out in short bursts. He can tell that she's close to hyperventilating and he kisses her on the top of her head and rubs her back. "Shh, it's ok sweetheart," he tries to calm her, "It's ok, it's me, you're safe." He can see Stefan and Rebekah approach them from the corner of his eye. He catches Stefan's eye and nods his head towards the door and Stefan nods in reply. "Come on love, let's go home." Klaus says leading Caroline towards the door.

"Niklaus," the voice causes them both to stiffen and Caroline immediately straightens in his arms. As they both turn slowly they see Mikael smirking at the two of them. "I just wanted to congratulate you on finding a girl like her." His gaze shifts to Caroline for a second before going back to Klaus. "Although," he glances around to see if anyone is listening into their conversation before leaning in a bit closer to the couple. "You might want to put a muzzle on her," He draws back and Caroline barely has time to register that Klaus' arm is no longer protectively around her waist before his fist connects with Mikael's face. Caroline doesn't know whether to be shocked or to laugh at the look on Mikael's face as he brings his hand to where Klaus' fist connected to his face.

"If you ever," Klaus snarls stepping closer threateningly, "Talk about her like that again you'll have me to answer to." He turns and holds his hand out for Caroline to take. With a final look at Mikael she takes Klaus' outstretched hand and lets him lead her out of the dining hall.

They walk a little bit as Klaus tries to calm his anger. When they turn a corner they stop and Klaus gives her a weird look.

"What?" Caroline asks

"No one's ever done something like that for me," He says softly bringing his hands up to cup her face. She smiles at him and moves her head to kiss his hand.

"Well get used to it Mikaelson," she says affectionately before looping her arm through his and leading him down the quiet street.

If he's completely honest with himself he would admit that it is something that he could get used to. Her standing up for him, defending him, always being there. If he looks forward he can picture her by his side for the rest of his life. But as much as that thought excites him it also scares him. He hasn't done anything to deserve something as good as her. He would love for her to be by his side forever. To be his, and his only. But at the same time he knows that he is only holding her back from all that she could do. She rests her head on his shoulder and he pushes these thoughts away with a shake of his head instead turning his attention to the girl at his side.

* * *

**So I have to admit that I'm kind of ashamed of the lengths of these chapters. And for that I apologize, really I'd love to make them longer but whenever I sit down and force myself to write something longer I have the sudden urge to bang my head on the table. But I will try! On another note, I really hoped you like the little Caroline/Mikael show off! I LOVED writing it! Please review I love hearing what you guys think! Every time I get that email sayong someone has followed, favorited or reviewed I get this huge loopy grin on my face. Seriously, I'm not kidding, ask anyone in my family. Until next time then! (And hopefully it'll be a longer chapter) ~Lia**


	10. Chapter 10: A trip to plan

If he was anything, Klaus Mikaelson was a man of his word. So when he promised Caroline that in exchange for her accompanying him to that damned party he would let her choose their dates for a period of time he held himself true to that bargain. So that's how he found himself at his house with Caroline sitting next to him as they lay out in his huge backyard just looking up at the sky. When she had suggested the idea he had told her that it was completely cliché but being Caroline, she rolled her eyes and reminded him of their arrangement. He had huffed in annoyance but in the end she had gotten her way.

Ever since the party there was something in the back of Klaus' mind that nagged him constantly. It was only when he thought about it more that he realized what it was. Panic. Sheer mind numbing panic about him and Caroline. It wasn't that he was afraid that he would lose her; he knew that she wouldn't leave him despite who he was. But sometimes this fear would creep into his brain that he was going to ruin her. That over time being with him would diminish the light that she had about her. Some of his darkness would inevitably seep into her and his sweet innocent Caroline would be no more.

He could already see it happening slowly. She would sometimes read something in a magazine or online that said something negative about her and she would take it to heart. He hadn't realized how cruel people could be until he saw some of the comments himself. They would call her a whore, saying she was just with him for the money and fame. That she didn't have a job and she just relied on him for everything. His fans that had helped him rise to where he was now were slowly tearing down Caroline. He had seen it before, whenever one of his friends or colleagues started a relationship with someone and their fans didn't approve they would dig up as much dirt on the person that they could and hold it against them. He didn't want Caroline to be submitted to that same fate. She was too good for that. Once already he had found her crying because of comments saying she had no talent, no purpose, that she was nothing.

* * *

_He found her in the bathroom. She was slouched against the bath tub, her body shaking with silent sobs. Seeing her like that and knowing that it was because of him in some small way broke his heart. He didn't say anything as he walked towards her and sank down next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight against him. _

_ "They hate me." She whispered between her broken sobs. He rubbed circles on her back, trying his best to calm her down. "They said that I don't deserve you. Which I probably don't, but what gives them the right to say it? They don't know me." _

_ "They're just jealous of you sweetheart." He says, stroking her hair and pulling her as close as he could desperately trying to protect her from the outside world. _

_ "There's nothing to be jealous of!" She yells pulling away from him abruptly and turning to face him. Her eyes are red and puffy from all of the crying but there is a fire in there that he adores about her. "I'm nothing special! I'm just some stupid girl who went on a date with a guy. There is not a single part of me that these people have to be jealous of!" He stops her rant by placing his hands on either side of her face and tracing her lips with his thumb trying to calm her as best as he can. _

_ "Don't say that." He says, and she is about to say something in response but he shushes her. "Caroline, don't say that you are nothing. You are everything. Look at you, you're beautiful, you're strong, you're full of light." She shakes her head and he gives her a hard look trying to drill in his point. But it is clear that nothing he can say will make her feel better._

* * *

He can feel that feeling now. As she snuggles closer to him sighing happily as she looks up at the clouds. He is tense beneath her and she props herself up on her elbow to get a better look at him. The expression on his face is unreadable and Caroline can't help but be a little confused.

"What is it?" She asks as he sits up, pulling away from her in the process.

"Caroline," he says still with that expression that she can't read. "We need to talk." Those words were never good. Swallowing nervously and standing up as he did she finally could almost put her finger on his expression. Something in his eyes had changed and he looked almost mean, completely cold. She could sense that something was wrong.

"Are you ok?" She asked quietly reaching to place her hand on his arm comfortably. He took a step back before she could touch him and she let her hand drop, trying to hide the mixture of pain and shock in her eyes.

"I think we should end this," Ok, this was not something she had expected when she had come over to his house earlier.

"End this?" _Please, please prove me wrong_ she begged in her mind.

"Yeah, it's been fun sweetheart and you've really helped turn my image around but I'm done with you." Her mouth dropped and the pain was clear on her face. His heart clenched but he forced himself to look indifferent. He was doing this to protect her, he had to let her go. "I mean, you're a really good shag and all but I'm ready to move on."

"Are you serious?" She asked hoping that this was some kind of sick joke.

"How long did you think this would last Caroline? We're from completely different worlds,"

"You asshole!" She screamed slapping him as hard as she could. But then her voice got quieter and sadder, "I love you," her voice was so broken and tears were gathering in her eyes. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her, tell her that he loved her too because he did. But it was because he loved her that he had to let her go. He swallowed the lump in his throat and almost cringed at what he said next.

"I'm sure that there's a good fan club that you could join for that, plenty of other girls 'love' me too." Her jaw dropped and she slapped him again harder. This time the tears fell from her eyes.

"You're a coward Klaus!" She said pushing him "I know what you're doing here, what we have is the most real thing that you've ever experienced and that scares you so you're going to just push it away." He wondered how she was so dead on with his intentions.

"Look Caroline, whether you want it to be or not. _This,"_ He gestured between them, "Is over." She looked at him for a few seconds, letting the tears fall from her eyes before spinning on her heel and walking away. She wasn't going to beg him. If he wanted to screw this up then she would let him. He dug his grave and now he was going to have to lie in it.

He watched as she walked away from him. Her body shaking slightly from the tears she was attempting to hold back. It broke his heart, the one he didn't know that he really had until he had met her. He closed his eyes and took a breath before going back into his house. Without thinking twice he made his way to the liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of bourbon.

Caroline made it all the way to her car before she let go. She hit the steering wheel a couple of times before collapsing forward and sobbing. After a couple of minutes of sobbing she pulled herself together enough to start the car and pull away from the curb. When she finally made her way back to her apartment she immediately called Kat over.

* * *

Between the sobbing mess on the phone and the words 'Klaus' and 'asshole' being repeated over and over Katherine figured that Caroline was in desperate need of some ice cream, vodka and hard core action movies. In her past break ups Katherine had learned that after fighting or a breakup action movies were always the first step, and then came the romantic ones. So she brought over a couple bottles of alcohol and a huge stack of movies. When she got to the door and pushed it open she was met with a very frazzled looking Caroline. Kat had never seen her like this. She was expecting to see her on the floor sobbing uncontrollably, cursing Klaus and damning him to hell but what she found was much, much worse.

"Care, what are you doing?" She asked, setting down the items in her arms onto the kitchen table.

"I'm cleaning Kat, this place is a mess and I can't live like this anymore." She was cleaning the windows, the stove, anything she could reach with a spray bottle. It was like a little blonde tornado.

"Care, you need to sit down ok? We can talk about this," She was approaching her calmly as if she was a time bomb about to be set off. Which she probably was.

"There isn't anything to talk about Kat, it's over. We're over. He dumped me."

"He _dumped _you?" Her mouth dropped open. "Oh sweetie I'm so sorry!"

"It's cool I mean I'll get over him, right?" She had unshed tears in her eyes. She was about to make her way over to the other side of the apartment when she stopped midstride and turned back to Kat. "But I love him Kat," her shoulders slumped. "I love him and he didn't want me. Nobody ever wants me."

"I want you," Kat said coming closer, "If I was lesbian, I would totally have a huge crush on you." Caroline laughed and then she quickly started crying again. "I know honey, I know it hurts but it'll get better, you're going to find someone who loves you so much that they would never hurt you. And then you're going to be happy." Caroline nodded as Katherine hugged her.

Hours and many tears later the two girls still sat on the couch as they talked. "I'm done crying over this," Caroline stated setting down the bottle in her hand. "Tell me about you, any new guys I should know about?"

"Um," Katherine looked down shyly.

"There is!" Caroline squealed a little drunkenly.

"Yeah, actually there kind of is. And it's actually someone that you introduced me to at the party."

"It's not Stefan is it? Because I'll admit that at first I didn't make the connection that he was Damon's brother but then when I saw how he looked at you at the party I kind of was like 'oh that must be Damon's brother that I never got to meet'" She glared at Kat for a little and the other girl laughed at her friend's drunken rambling.

"It's not Stefan," She reassured her

"Good, because Rebekah would probably stab you with one of her stilettos and bury your body so far down that no one would ever find it."

"No, I'm over the two of them, trust me. No more Salvatores for this girl." Kat smiled and then started playing with the top of the bottle in her hand. "It's actually Klaus' brother," she said slowly.

"Kol?"

"No, Elijah," She corrected and Caroline's eyes went wide. "Look if its awkward for you to have your best friend dating your ex's brother then just tell me and I'll never talk to him again." Caroline smiled at her friend's loyalty and reached out to touch her shoulder.

"It's fine Kat," She said, "He seems like a great guy and you two would make an adorable couple,"

"I know!" She shrieked and then they both laughed. "Ok so I know you don't want to talk about it, but is there anything I can do for you to make you feel better?" She looked worried. "I could castrate him if you'd like." Caroline laughed and shook her head.

"No, no Kat I'm not that desperate for revenge. I just don't want to see him for a while." She sighed, "Everywhere I look I see his face or hear some teenagers talking about him." Katherine nodded in understanding.

"So let's go somewhere," She suggested, "Yeah you don't have a job and it's been a while since we've been home. So why don't the two of us go back to Mystic Falls and raise a little hell?"

"_You _want to go to Mystic Falls," She didn't believe it. Katherine had sworn when she left that she would never go back, she hated it there.

"I kind of want to see what little miss perfect has been doing," She said with a shrug and Caroline couldn't help but laugh which earned her a glare from Katherine. "And I'm sure that you want to go see your mom," Caroline nodded, remembering that she hadn't seen her mom since her graduation and she really did miss her.

"And you would face Elena for me?"

"Hon, I would face hell for you." Kat replied with a smile. "So is it a deal? Are we going to Mystic Falls?" Caroline nodded and took another swig of her bottle. They sat in silence for a moment, both lost in their thoughts of what it would be like to return home after such a long time. Finally, it was Katherine who broke the silence, "And the offer is still on the table if you want me to neuter Klaus," The blonde rolled her eyes and then bumped shoulders with her friend with a small smile. She was a long way from feeling better after what he had said but she was determined to get there. She was going to show Klaus Mikaelson that he couldn't break her.

* * *

**Dun Dun DUUUUUN! sorry for leaving you on that cliffhanger...and for the whole break up...(hides in a corner as you all tell me how much you hated it) but just so ya know I'm a sucker for a happy ending but Klaus has some growing to do and Caroline needs to go on her own for a while. There's still going to be Klaroline interaction so don't worry! So I'm really excited to write single Klaus who (SPOILER ALERT) goes off the rails a little bit (claps gleefully) and an Elena/Katherine confrontation which will kind of explain more of Katherine's past. Please review and tell me what you think! ~Lia **


	11. Chapter 11: Mystic Falls

**Hi! Sorry for the insanely long wait after the insanely mean chapter I gave you...but like I said I love happy endings so (wink wink) but there's still a lot of ground to cover before that so PLEASE don't murder me...Anyway, I'll let you read.**

* * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen this is your captain speaking," A voice came over the speaker from above the two girl's heads as they sat in the airplane. "We will be beginning our descent soon so at this time please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts." Caroline Forbes sighed as she tightened the seatbelt around her waist even tighter. She had never been a good flier and with the added stress that this trip was going to bring she couldn't calm her nerves at all. Beside her Katherine was flipping through an old magazine she had found in her bag.

"So, my mom said that you could use the guest room in our house," Caroline said as she watched Kat carefully. "I'm already dragging you with me on this trip, so I figured the least I could do is let you stay at my place."

"Care, I could just get a reservation at the motel," Kat sighed, but she figured that now was not the time to fight Caroline on this. As much as both girls were excited to get out of the city for a few days neither of them wanted to face their families alone. Caroline just shrugged and settled back into her seat as they felt the plane dip slightly.

"So," Kat started as she turned towards Caroline with a wicked smile. "How long do you think it'll take for either Elena or my parents to mention rehab?"

"Or for my mom to mention the Lockwoods," Caroline added with a small smile.

"Or the whole New York incident,"

"Or the Klaus incident," she tried to sound casual but Kat could detect a note of pain in Caroline's voice.

"You mean the one where I murder him and throw his body in the ocean?" Kat asked, bumping her shoulder against Caroline's.

"You're not going to murder him Kat," She said forcefully but she felt a little better.

"Hey, they won't be able to prove anything. No body, no proof Forbes." She winked and then went back to facing forwards.

"Thank you, by the way, for coming with me." Caroline said.

"Any chance I get to annoy little miss golden girl is good for me."

* * *

Once the plane had safely landed and the two had gotten a rental car for the weekend that they would be in Mystic Falls they were on their way. Most of the drive was spent in silence but once they got to the sign just before the locally famous Wikery Bridge, Caroline spoke up.

"Here we go," She sighed as she crossed the bridge and the town square came into a view a few moments later. It looked exactly the same as the day that they left. The fountain still in the same place in the middle of the little park, the Mystic Grill standing proud as the only slightly decent place to spend time in town. Soon they were passing Katherine's house and veering off onto Caroline's street. The Forbes residence was a medium sized one story white house with a little porch. There was a police car parked in the driveway that Caroline pulled alongside of. It was rare that the squad car was there, normally Liz spent all her time at work but the fact that the car was here meant that Liz was also somewhere inside the house. Taking a deep breath after turning the engine off, Caroline stepped out of the car and Kat soon did the same.

After pulling their luggage out of the trunk they brought it to the front door and rang the doorbell. Liz opened the door a few moments later and smiled as she saw her daughter standing there.

"Caroline," she said, opening the screen door to let her daughter and Katherine in. Once the bags were set inside Liz pulled Caroline in for an awkward hug.

"Hi mom," she said once the two blondes pulled away.

"It's so good to see you sweetie," she said warmly and then turned to Kat, "Katherine, how are you?" It was a little colder but Caroline hadn't expected anything other than that from her mom. The two of them had never gotten along and it was quite obvious that Liz still blamed Kat for taking Caroline with her to New York.

"Fine, thank you," Kat replied, forcing a smile.

"Mom, Kat and I are going to get our things unpacked and then maybe go see Elena and walk around for a bit." Caroline said, trying to diffuse the awkward tension that had overtaken the conversation.

"Are you sure you're not jetlagged? I can make you some dinner,"

"We're fine, we'll just go to the Grill and grab something."

"Alright honey, say hi to Elena for me," Liz smiled at the mention of Kat's twin sister. "And maybe you could stop by the Lockwood's, I mentioned to Carol that you were coming back, I'm sure Tyler would enjoy seeing you again."

"Maybe mom," Caroline said before pulling Kat through the house into her room to unpack.

* * *

As they stood in front of the door to the Gilbert house Katherine swallowed before knocking on the door. Grayson Gilbert opened the door and his mouth almost fell open in shock at the sight of his daughter standing there.

"Katherine?" He asked shocked.

"Yeah," Kat replied awkwardly just as Miranda came into view behind her husband. She froze as she saw Katherine standing there and the scrutiny of both their gazes on her made Kat shift her weight awkwardly. "Hi," She said awkwardly.

"Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert," Caroline decided to break the awkward silence, "It's really nice to see you both, Kat and I just decided to take a little weekend trip to just get away from New York for a bit and we decided to come back here for a few days."

"Oh, of course," Miranda said and then gestured into the foyer, "Come on in girls," Katherine entered first, looking around at all of the pictures of Elena and Jeremy around. She smiled seeing Jeremy with a graduation cap on and she picked up the picture to examine it more closely. She would have gone to the graduation but her invite must have been lost in the mail according to her parents.

"How have you been Katherine?" Grayson asked, "Staying out of trouble?" Kat's jaw twitched and Caroline could have scoffed at the judgmental tone in Grayson's voice.

"Yes Grayson, I'm staying out of trouble," she replied coldly.

"Katherine," Miranda scolded, "Treat your father with some respect,"

"Last time I checked my birth certificate said Petrova and not Gilbert, _mom," _Katherine sneered; Miranda put her hand to her head and sat down on the couch just as Grayson rounded on her.

"Look young lady," He pointed a finger at her, ready to start lecturing her about how she and Elena were their daughters and how when their parents died they had taken them in as their legal children. As if Katherine was unfamiliar with the tragic story of John and Isobel Petrova and their car accident that left poor little Katherine and Elena Petrova orphans, only to be saved by the heroic friends of their parents Grayson and Miranda Gilbert. However, before Grayson could go into his rant about how ungrateful and problematic Katherine was, the front door opened again and Elena and Jeremy walked in.

"Katherine?" Elena gasped before looking towards Caroline, "Care?" She grinned and practically ran over to hug Caroline. Jeremy stood frozen, staring at his older sister.

"Hey Jer," She said with a small smile.

"Kat it's so great that you're back!" Elena squealed and flung her arms around her twin's neck. Kat tensed and Elena pulled away.

"I'm not back," Kat clarified, "Caroline and I are just visiting,"

"Oh yeah," Elena said eyes wide as she turned back to Caroline, "I heard about Klaus," She put a hand on Caroline's arm, "I'm really sorry," Caroline tensed and her eyes darted to Kat's for a split second.

"I'm fine," She gritted out.

"If you need to talk to someone I'm here for you ok?"

"Sure Elena," It had only been about five minutes in the company of Elena Gilbert and already Caroline was ready to choke on the fake sweetness.

"So Kat how are you?" She asks, "You seem better, I mean you're not drunk, that's an improvement."

"Elena," Jeremy speaks up and everybody turns towards him. "You guys she just got back, don't drive her away again." Miranda, Grayson and Elena all shut up and Katherine is left looking at Jeremy with a grateful smile.

"I'd love to stay," Caroline interjects and everyone looks at her, "But I'm supposed to stop by the Lockwood's before we go back home, I'll come back later to pick you up ok Kat?" Kat nods and then turns back to her family as Caroline says goodbye and walks out the door.

"So, how's New York?" Jeremy asks once the door is closed.

"It's good,"

"Did you get a job yet?" Grayson asks coldly.

"I was looking into buying a spot for a small business but there's nothing affordable." She knows that the only way she is going to get through this conversation is just to answer their questions and not dodge any of them.

"What kind of small business?" Miranda asks, actually sounding curious.

"A bar," Kat replies with a smile because she knows that it'll piss them off, Elena scoffs, as Miranda looks down disappointed.

* * *

The Lockwood property is just as big as she remembers it from High School. This used to be _the _spot for parties and she has a few fond memories of it. As she steps up to the door and raises her hand to knock it swings open and Mrs. Lockwood is standing there beaming at her.

"Caroline!" She says warmly and pulls her into a hug.

"Hi Mrs. Lockwood," Caroline replies once Carol releases her.

"It's so nice to see you, why don't you come in," Caroline nods and steps around her into the giant mansion. She used to think that it was the biggest house she would ever see, until she saw Klaus'. "I'll go get Tyler, I'm sure that he'd love to say hello to you." Caroline nods again and waits as she disappears up the stairs for a few moments.

A few minutes later she hears someone coming down the stairs and looks up just as Tyler comes into view.

"Care!" He says excitedly and moves to hug her, she awkwardly hugs him back and smiles when they pull apart.

"Hey Ty, how are you?"

"Fine, I'm playing football for the Panthers, I just stopped home for a few days,"

"Really? That's great!" Caroline tells him. "I mean pro football Ty, that's a huge deal!"

"Yeah, well you know me," He says with a shrug, "But how about you? How have you been doing?"

"Oh, well," She doesn't know how to answer that question and based on the kind of history that they've had she doesn't want to make it awkward, "I've been good,"

"I heard," He says, a look of concern on his face. "That sucks Care, I'm sorry,"

"I'm fine," She lies, the absolute last thing that she wants to talk to Tyler Lockwood about is Klaus and her failed relationship with him.

"But hey, at least you dumped him right?" He says happily and punches her lightly on the arm.

"What?" She asked shocked

"That's what they're all saying," He looks confused, "That you just dumped him out of the blue," Her jaw drops, of course they would tell the press that. It's his publicists job to make him look as good as they possibly can, and while making him a hero for dumping the girlfriend everyone hates is good, making the girlfriend that everyone hates dump him and completely break his heart is better. The second she is back in New York she knows that all hell is going to break loose. If she thought that the hate and negative attention she was getting before was bad whatever is awaiting her off of that plane is going to be ten times worse.

* * *

He wants nothing more right now than to just find a liquor store and drink it. The coffee that Stefan just handed him makes nothing better. He still feels the ache, the horrible emptiness in his chest that she left behind her. When Lexi called him and asked him what he wanted to tell the press about the issue he had snapped at her to just figure something out, so as his publicist trying to make him look as good as she could, she told them all that Caroline had been the one to end it. That alone added to his guilt, everyone already didn't like her, whenever she came out of hiding she was going to be in for a whole new world of hate.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Stefan asks hesitantly, sitting on the couch across from the chair that Klaus is sitting in.

"No,"

"Klaus," He says warningly, "You're going to have to talk to someone, otherwise you're going to hold it all in and then start drinking again."

"When did someone promote you to therapist Salvatore?" Klaus asks sarcastically.

"When I became the only real friend you have," Stefan replies without missing a beat, "So talk or I'm going to call in Bekah,"

With that warning out there, Klaus decides that either he just let it out now or when Rebekah talks to him about it later she'll grill him with question after question after question. "I hurt her," He shrugs, trying to seem indifferent. "She was getting too close so I let her go,"

"What is this?" A feminine accented voice asks from the doorway, "Some post-breakup male bonding ritual?" Rebekah walks into the room and sits down next to Stefan on the couch staring at her brother expectantly.

"Whatever it is you're not welcome here sister," Klaus sneers at her.

"Well I already heard the beginning so I might as well just hear it straight from you instead of what shortened version Stefan is going to tell me later." Klaus sighs and knows that there is no way to make Rebekah back off from this. The only female Mikaelson is just as stubborn as her brothers and when she sets her mind to something there is no way that anyone can call her off. "So, you 'let her go'" Rebekah states, "How?"

"I said some things I didn't mean," he says vaguely, hoping she lets it go.

"What kinds of things Nik," Great, not she sounded as if she was going to get angry.

"Hurtful things Bekah, what else do you want me to say?"

"You told her she didn't mean anything didn't you?" She asked, "Knowing you, you probably told her she was a good shag but that was it, right?" Her voice was rising as she got angrier. Stefan had to put his hand on her knee to stop her from jumping up off the couch and clawing her brother apart, "Nik!" She shouted at him.

"Yes, that is exactly what I told her," Klaus said, looking down at his coffee mug. Really, he needed something stronger.

"So not only did you break up with her in the worst way possible, but you also let your publicist tell the world that she was the one who broke your heart?" She asked him incredulously. Klaus nodded. "Nik," She sighed, disappointedly, "That poor girl is going to go through hell because you put her there."

"What do you want me to say Bekah?" Klaus shouted, looking back up at her finally, "That I'm sorry? That she doesn't deserve it? Because I am and she doesn't, but if this is the only way that I can protect her then it's what I have to do."

"Protect her from what Nik, Mikael? Because I heard what she said to him and she can handle her own against him."

"Protect her from me Bekah!" He stood angrily, towering over her.

"From you? Nik, please tell me that this isn't about you feeling sorry for yourself again," Rebekah pushed Stefan's hand off her knee and stood up to face her brother. "That's what this is? You're scared that you'll hurt her or ruin her if she stays with you." When Klaus didn't answer she knew that she was right, "Nik you hurt her more by leaving her like that,"

"I thought you hated her," Klaus yelled, "Why are you defending her?"

"Because I know how she must feel!" Bekah shouted and then sighed, the next time she spoke it was softer, "Nik, I know how horrible it feels to have someone tell you that you mean nothing to them," For a moment Klaus forgot everything that they were talking about and he turned on Rebekah.

"What?" He asked, focusing on her and how much he wanted to kill the son of a bitch that had dared make his sister feel that way.

"What you're feeling now Nik, how you want to go out and completely ruin that person's life because of how they made me feel, that is how Katherine is going to feel." Rebekah told him calmly. "And don't think that you can escape her because Elijah is completely enamored with her."

"Rebekah," Klaus started,

"No, Nik you don't get to defend yourself in this, you're the bad guy to her and if you want to win her back, which I know that you do, you're going to have to grovel. You have to get rid of this stupid idea that you're going to hurt everyone in your life by being in theirs." Klaus stood stunned and just stared at his sister open mouthed. "She's hurting and who knows how she'll react the next time she sees you. She might yell and hit you and then she'll go home and cry but you deserve that." She took a breath, "You deserve to know the consequences of your actions and that you've probably ruined her life in doing what you did. I don't even want to think about the amount of hate that she'll get from your fans, or the people who will stop her on the street just to insult her because of a _lie _that you told, Nik."

"I love her Bekah," he said softly, hating the way that the simple fact made him sound so vulnerable and broken.

"Then you have to show her that," Bekah said before making her typical dramatic exit. After she left Klaus turned to Stefan.

"What was she talking about before, about knowing how it felt," If she thought that he was just going to let that go then she was seriously mistaken.

"Don't worry man, I took care of it," Stefan said with a hint of an evil smirk. "Poor guy didn't even know what hit him."

* * *

**So I'm sorry again for the long wait, I went on vacation and didnt have it done before then and I was gonna post there but there wasn't any internet. But here it is! Now you know a little more about Kat's background and sorry if you all really like Elena, she's gonna be a bitch in this...But Rebekah defended Caroline (yay!) Next chapter they're going to be back in NY and the good news is that I have it mostly written so all I have to do is edit it and get it out to you guys :) please review! I loved all your comments about wanting Caroline to get revenge on Klaus, :) Hearing from you guys honestly makes me update faster sooo yeah THANKS! **


	12. Chapter 12: Job Hunting

"Maybe you should get a job," Her mother had suggested it to her on their last day in Mystic Falls and ever since then she couldn't get the words out of her head. So the second she and Kat had gotten back to New York, Kat had gone straight for the bottle of Vodka and Caroline had gone right to the want ads in the paper. Her mind was focused on acting or singing but just in case she circled everything, from manager positions to waitresses to event planning. After she had made several phone calls to places that said they were hiring and all of them had politely told her that the positions had been filled she sat back on the couch with a huff. She had a theory about why no one would so much as give her an interview but she wasn't sure yet. She had gone for acting auditions, sent demo after demo to record labels but no one ever got back to her.

"So have you been to any more auditions that I should know about?" Kat asked one night after setting a bag of Chinese take-out on the table.

"A ton, actually," Caroline replied dejectedly, "Everything from lead roles to extras and nobody even looks at me. They take one look at my name and their eyes get huge and they usher me out as soon as possible."

"That's pathetic," Kat said staring at her like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Can they even do that?"

"Probably," She shrugged, grabbing a container of eggrolls and opening it. "I mean they can pretty much do whatever they want,"

"And they don't say anything? They just look at your name and tell you to get the hell out?"

"Most of them yeah," Caroline looked down as she chose an eggroll and then bit into it, "The one lady I saw yesterday actually blatantly told me that no one would hire me,"

"What? Why? That's ridiculous," Kat stated, slamming down her chopsticks in protest. "Tell me exactly what happened so I can go kick that bitch's ass,"

"Well, as usual I went into that big, empty room and read my lines for them. And the lady sitting behind the table just looked at me and said stop. I don't even think I got through a whole sentence. She just held up a hand and said 'You're Caroline Forbes, aren't you?' and I said that I was and I just _knew _she was going to confirm my suspicion. And she replied 'How many auditions have you been to since the breakup?' I told her a lot, and she asked if I wanted to know why I hadn't gotten any of the parts. So I nodded and before she said anything she assured me that I was a good actress," Kat scoffed and took a bite of her food as Caroline continued, "And after that she just said 'Nobody wants to be that person in Hollywood that casts Klaus Mikaelson's leftovers for a role or for a singing career, it has nothing to do with you it's just how this town works. You come with a lot of baggage honey, and everybody hates you.'" Caroline finished and Kat was sitting in front of her with her mouth opened wide.

"That _bitch," _She seethed, "So the only reason you're not getting any job is because they don't want to piss off Klaus?" Caroline nodded as she chewed her food. "That's pathetic,"

"So I have no idea what to do for a job," Caroline said sadly, "I don't want to end up asking my mom for money, she'll just tell me that I should come home and do something,"

"Hey, at least your parents aren't bribing you to stay sober and clean," Kat shrugged trying to lighten the mood. "You should invite Tyler down here," She said and Caroline raised her eyebrows, "He obviously likes you and is waiting for the right time to ask you out,"

"And that'll help me get a job how?" Caroline asked

"It'll take your mind off of it, and you can forget about Klaus for a while too," Caroline shook her head, "Come on, live a little Forbes," Caroline laughed and shook her head again.

"I don't want to be in another relationship just yet Kat,"

"Who says you need to have a relationship with him," Kat shrugged, "Use him for sex and make Klaus jealous,"

"I can't do that to him Kat, I'm not you,"

"You're right," Kat agreed, "You're far too uptight to be me, and I'm in a relationship with a successful, smart and sexy man," Caroline laughed, "You are most definitely _not _me."

"I'll think about it,"

"That's all I ask," Kat said before changing the topic.

He hated working now. He used to love it but now all it did was get in the way of his drinking schedule. Elijah had been bugging him forever to get going on a new project and when the producers of a new action movie had called Elijah had told, or rather, threatened, him to take it. So here he was, waiting to be called in to get his makeup done for the upcoming scene he had to do.

It had been weeks since he had seen her or heard from her. He wanted to apologize, but he knew that he honestly didn't deserve her forgiveness. She was too good for him, and he would ruin her but she was like a drug to him. He couldn't stop thinking about her, the sadness and hurt in her eyes when he had said those things. The way she had screamed at him, told him that she loved him. It wasn't fair that she could look so beautiful while walking away from him forever.

For the past few weeks he had taken up his previous habits of drinking away his feelings. He knew that he was regressing back to his old ways but he didn't care. All he wanted to do was forget. Half the time he wouldn't show up for his scenes on this movie and the other half of the time he would be late and either extremely hung over or still drunk. Without Elijah's constant begging and pleading for them to have a little faith in him he would have been kicked off the project long ago.

He wanted to blame her for all of this. She wouldn't leave him alone. She was in his dreams, his thoughts and every time he closed his eyes he could picture the exact color of her hair or her eyes. He cursed himself for turning into one of those love-struck teenagers that couldn't think about anything but their girl. He knew though that if he let himself forget then he would be worse off. She was his humanity and his anchor now and he couldn't let her go even if he wanted to. It was a constant battle of wills inside of him, the devil on his shoulder telling him to drag her back with him and the other part of him wanted her to be happy and safe. Things that she couldn't be with him, at least not completely. The threats and comments would always hang over her head and there was nothing that he could do to stop it. He couldn't help her or stop them from hurting her.

He needed money, he knew that he couldn't keep blowing his money on alcohol and parties without having a job to give him income. Elijah kept telling him this, and he knew he had to do something. But he couldn't, he couldn't bring himself to live the same way after her as he had before. If the press found out about his drinking he wouldn't be able to live it down. It would be everywhere and he couldn't handle that again. He didn't have another 'miraculous comeback' in him.

The ringing of his cell phone brought him out of his train of thought and he grabbed it and pressed answer without even looking at the number.

"What?" He growled

"Didn't anyone ever teach you any manners boy?" That voice. His entire body went rigid and his mind went blank.

"Mikael," He snarled, vaguely he wondered why his father was calling him but he couldn't think clearly through the anger that was suddenly clouding his thoughts.

"Niklaus," His stepfather greeted coldly.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Klaus snapped and Mikael chuckled darkly.

"I have a deal I would like to discuss with you," Klaus' eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"And why do you need to discuss it with me?"

"I would like to make you a very generous offer Niklaus,"

"What kind of offer?" He asked

"The kind that we will both benefit from," He replied vaguely.

* * *

**Please review! and YAY DOUBLE UPDATE. I'm not really fond of the next chapter soooo I gave you two to make up for it. **


	13. Chapter 13: A familiar face

Katherine was sitting on the couch in Elijah's study as he read his book. She enjoyed watching him, he was so focused on the words that often he wouldn't catch her staring, but when he looked up and his eyes met hers she felt her heart flutter. She smiled shyly and looked away.

"How was Mystic Falls?" He asked her, setting his book down next to him. Katherine sighed and settled back further into the couch. Besides Caroline, Elijah was the only person that she felt comfortable talking with about her family problems.

"It was as horrible as expected," She told him.

"How so?" He was so calm, and he had that persona about him that made her instantly want to drop every wall she had ever built and let him in completely. She considered herself a cautious and guarded individual but there was something about Elijah that made her want to spill her guts for hours and hours.

"They wanted to know about the drinking," She said it shyly, as if she was still afraid that he would judge her for her past. "It's all they ever want to talk about," He nodded understandingly and she continued, "They've always liked Elena better and they never got to know me, so now that there's a problem with me it becomes the only thing that they know about me. It doesn't matter that my parents died in front of me, or that I was used in high school, they just don't care." She shrugged and Elijah got up for a moment, walking over to the little refrigerator that usually held wine but now held an assortment of soda and water. He pulled out a Sprite for her and poured it into a glass before grabbing himself a glass of water. He walked back to the couch and handed her the glass before sitting down next to her. "They don't know anything about me," She swirled the sprite around in her glass, "They don't know what I like to talk about or what kind of personality I have because I'm not Elena. It's not fair," She sounded like a whiny two year old now. Elijah smiled and gently rested his arm around her shoulders.

"Katerina," She loved when he called her that, his accent made her melt every time that he spoke. "They love you, they're just worried," She nodded.

"Anyway," She didn't want to talk about her problems anymore, "How has Klaus been handling the breakup?" Elijah let out a laugh and shook his head.

"He's handling it in typical Klaus fashion," He shrugged and Katherine giggled.

"Drinking everything in sight?" She asked knowingly and Elijah nodded.

"And Caroline?" He asked

"She pretends she's ok, but the constant rejection of her job applications and the threats are really getting to her. I feel like she's constantly a minute away from either bursting into tears or hunting him down and killing him."

"He has that effect on people," Elijah sighed and Katherine smiled. "They really are quite a pair aren't they?"

"They're the perfect couple," Kat smiled, thinking of how happy Caroline had been when she first met Klaus. "They're both too damn stubborn though,"

* * *

It was hours later when Katherine was sitting on her couch alone watching reruns of an old TV show when her cell rang. One look at the caller ID and she knew that this wasn't going to be good.

"Elena," She said as greeting, "What do you want?"

"Katherine," Elena's sing-song voice came from the phone. She wished that Caroline were here, but since she had finally convinced her to invite Tyler to come down and he had finally asked her out on a date Kat didn't want to bother her. It was the second time this week the couple had been out, but the other time she had been busy with Elijah.

"What do you want?" She asked harshly, trying to remember what Elijah had told her about them just being worried about her.

"Mom and Dad are worried about you, ever since you left they've been worrying nonstop about your drinking."

"Well tell them not to worry then Elena," She snapped.

"The thing is," Elena paused, "We don't want you to get into any more trouble. We all think it's time that you come home," Katherine's jaw dropped.

"I'm not coming back to Mystic Falls Elena. I live here." Elena sighed dramatically.

"I offered to call you because out of all of us I would be the one that you would most likely listen to,"

"And why on _earth _would you think that?" Kat asked

"Because we're twins Kat,"

"Listen Elena, I'm not moving back to Mystic Falls, and if you wanted to send someone I would listen to than next time send Jeremy, he's the only one in that family that I can stand to be near." Elena gasped a little and when she spoke again her voice was thick.

"You're not the only one that this affects Katherine! Our whole family is suffering because of you,"

"The next time that I have problems I'll be sure that I don't involve you then Elena," She spat bitterly.

"Kat please," Elena begged

"Goodbye Elena," Katherine said before hanging up angrily. She was fuming and before she knew what she was doing she was making her way to the fridge and grabbing a can of beer.

* * *

Their first date had gone by amazingly well, when she knew him in school he had been such a jerk to her had her friends but now he had really changed. Now Tyler was sweet; he held open doors for her and didn't bring up Klaus at all at dinner for their first date. When it came time for their second date he decided to take her out to dinner at a fancy restaurant and then take her to a movie. She had told him that she really wasn't into the whole fancy dining thing but he hadn't listened to her.

"Come on Care," He said, practically yanking her into the restaurant, "Just try it I know that you'll love it." She was paranoid now that someone would spot her and turn in her location to local paparazzi. After that she knew that everything would be a mess.

"Tyler, I really don't like places like this," She told him and he waved her off.

"You'll love it," He told her again before getting them a table. The conversation revolved around his career and how football was going. It wasn't until they were on their second course that he brought up the elephant in the room.

"So, did Klaus ever take you someplace like this?" He asked, trying to sound nonchalant about it as he cut into his steak. Caroline was caught off guard, almost choking on the sip of water she had taken.

"Um, no," she admitted and he beamed. "He tried to but I told him I'd rather go someplace else," His eyes narrowed, "Do we have to talk about this now?"

"Where did he take you?" He asked, ignoring the fact she didn't want to talk about her incredibly famous ex over dinner.

"We got hotdogs from a street vendor," Tyler snorted and she narrowed her eyes, "Is something wrong with that?"

"That's disgusting," He told her finally, after swallowing the bite of steak he had just eaten. "I mean the guy has won countless awards and is probably rolling in money and for a date with you he takes you to _a hot dog vendor?" _He erupted in laughter, drawing the attention of many of the guests around them.

"It was my idea," Caroline replied defensively and Tyler shut up really fast.

"Your right I'm sorry," He said, "That's really," Pause. "_Sweet," _It sounded like it physically pained him to say the word.

The rest of dinner was spent discussing other topics, most of them revolving around him. Once dinner was over, and Tyler had paid they started making their way to the movie theater. The air was starting to get colder out and Caroline had to pull her coat tighter around her for warmth. It was only a few blocks to the theater but she was dreading walking those few blocks in her heels. It didn't help that Tyler was walking insanely fast and she almost had to jog to keep up with him.

"Tyler," She called out after almost tripping for the fourth time, "Can we slow down a little bit?" He sighed.

"Sure, but we might miss the beginning of the movie," he told her. His tone was almost scolding and she was about to reply with a snarky comeback when someone ran into her from behind.

"Oh, I'm sorry sweetheart," The voice said and Caroline froze. Time seemed to move in slow motion as she turned around to see the person who had bumped into her.

"Klaus," She gasped as her eyes met his.

* * *

**So, like I said last chapter, I'm not really fond of this...and thats why I gave you two chapters today. I'm sure you can all guess what's happening next chapter :) yay! And sorry the chapters are shorter than usual...but yeah PLEASE REVIEW**


	14. Chapter 14: The playground

Caroline looked from Klaus to Tyler quickly trying to figure out something to say. Tyler stood up straighter and pulled Caroline closer to him, practically marking her as his. It annoyed her but Katherine's constant 'make him jealous' advice was flashing in her mind like a neon sign.

"Klaus this is Tyler," She said gesturing to the man at her side, "Tyler this is Klaus," Tyler stretched his hand out to shake Klaus' hand and Klaus eyed it for a moment before shaking it roughly.

"Nice to meet you mate," Klaus said and Caroline could sense his immediate dislike of her date from his tone.

"Um, Tyler," She said awkwardly turning towards him and pulling his arm from her waist, "Can we catch a movie some other time?" She asked and he opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off, "I need to talk to him about some things," She gave him a look that stated she clearly didn't want to argue about the topic and he looked annoyed.

"Fine, whatever," He mumbled before turning around and stalking away with his hands in his pockets. She watched him turn the corner and go out of sight before turning back to Klaus.

"You didn't have to send him away love," Klaus told her as he looked her over. She was skinnier since the last time he saw her and there were a few dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep.

"Well, like I said, I really need to talk to you so," She trailed off but gestured towards the children's park across the street. It was night so there were no more children there and the swings were swaying slightly in the wind. He followed her as she sat down on one of them, sighing as she leaned down to pull off the heels she was wearing. She set them on the ground next to her and began kicking the woodchips on the ground. She wouldn't make eye-contact with him and he moved to the other swing.

"What did you need to talk to me about?" He asked curiously.

"Katherine says Elijah is worried about you," She said softly, looking up at him. His jaw was set in annoyance and he looked off towards the street.

"So my brother has been gossiping about me again has he?" His voice was cold and steady and Caroline shivered as a breeze blew past her. She tightened her coat more around her and sighed again, she knew it was wishful thinking that he would be willing to talk about this with her.

"He's worried Klaus," She told him, "And so am I," He looked at her shocked and she shrugged, looking back down at her feet. "You look like shit, by the way, just thought someone should tell you," He looked away feeling ashmaned, "When's the last time you've eaten anything but bar food?" He was thin, almost too thin and he too had dark circles under his eyes. He probably hadn't slept well in weeks and he looked almost sickly.

"I don't remember," He shrugged, "Tell me about this Tyler boy," He said changing the topic before she could lecture him about his drinking and eating habits too.

"I know you're trying to change the topic Nik," She said shaking her head and he looked at her wide eyed. "What?" She asked after a few seconds of him staring at her like that.

"What did you just call me?" He asked softly.

"Oh, sorry," She said shyly, Elijah had been calling him Nik and Katherine had taken it up and she had used it as a force of habit.

"No, don't be," He told her. She was blushing, he could tell even in the dark. "I like the sound of it coming from your mouth," She scoffed and looked back at him.

"So seriously when's the last time you had something substantial to eat?"

"It's been awhile," He admitted, "How long have you and that dog been dating?"

"He is not a dog Klaus," She told him annoyed.

"He was practically marking you as his territory sweetheart," She scoffed and shrugged it off.

"Why do you want to know?" She couldn't help but be a little bit defensive.

"Curiosity sweetheart," He said with a smirk and she laughed. It felt so good making her laugh again and the sound went straight to his chest, warming him.

"Yeah right," She scoffed, "You just won't admit that you're jealous," She looked at him knowingly with a small smirk on her face.

"On the contrary love," He corrected, "I'm extremely jealous that he gets to lay such a claim on you," She blushed again, "So how long?"

"Just a week or so," She admitted and hope bubbled in his chest, "It's nothing serious," she rounded on him again, "Now, seriously, the last time you've had a decent meal," He laughed.

"You're like a dog chasing a bone aren't you?" He laughed at her persistence.

"You need to eat Nik," There it was again, that name rolling off her tongue so easily, as if she didn't know the effect it had on him. He would probably do anything she asked if only she kept laughing with him like this, calling him that.

"And you need to get a new boyfriend," She sighed and stood up, the smile falling from her lips and he immediately regretted his words, wanting that smile back. She bent down to grab her shoes.

"I'm just trying to help you Klaus," She said frustrated, moving so she was standing before him with her hands on her hips.

"And I you sweetheart," She shook her head and scoffed in annoyance. He couldn't help himself, really it was like a reflex to him by now, refusing help.

"Stop being such an asshole for two minutes and listen to me Klaus!" She snapped and his eyebrow raised, he'd missed her fiery personality, "You need to stop with this drinking and partying all the time or you're going to end up without anyone to help you,"

"Who is there to help me?" He asked, looking up at her curiously.

"Elijah, Rebekah, Stefan," She counted off on her fingers, "Me," She added softly.

"Why would you help me after what I did to you?"

"Because I've seen what happens to people when they go down this path!" She cried, her eyes pleading him to understand. "I've seen what it does to families and to marriages and to loved ones," He could see tears brimming in her eyes and he wanted to wipe them away. She was speaking from past experiences, it was personal for her.

"Your father?" He asked softly and she nodded slowly.

"And Kat," She added and he looked shocked for a moment, "My father couldn't deal with the responsibility of his actions so he drank, and eventually he just left us," She was getting choked up and he stood slowly, he took a step towards her but she held up a hand to stop him as she took a step back. "I watched Kat for years as she went in and out of rehab and lost job after job. I watched as she went through loser after loser until she finally met Elijah,"

"Caroline," He said softly but she held up a hand again stopping him.

"I don't want to watch you go through that too because of me," A tear slipped out and she brushed it away furiously. She blamed herself, he realized, she blamed herself for her father's drinking and for his and for not being able to help Katherine. It was too much weight on her shoulders and he wanted to take it away, to make everything better for her.

"Don't blame yourself," He told her, grabbing her wrists and pulling her closer to him. "This isn't your fault Caroline," she swallowed, collecting herself and looking away slightly embarrassed that she had shown that much vulnerability in front of him. He grabbed her chin and turned her head back to face him, "I need you to understand, that your father was a loser and he doesn't deserve you or your gulit about not being able to stop what he did, I don't either but I'm at least going to try to be worthy," She smiled a little but he wasn't done, "You may think that you didn't help Katherine but I've heard her talking to Elijah and you've helped her more than you think." She blushed a little, and suddenly she felt kind of guilty about something that had happened when she was in Mystic Falls.

"Nik, I have to tell you something," She said quietly, "And you're probably going to hate me for it but you need to know," His mind started reeling, expecting the worse, was she pregnant? Did Mikael do something? "It's about your father," She said calmly and his eyes widened. Just as she was about to continue they heard a commotion from the street, someone was yelling and when they looked over a man with a camera was running towards them.

"Caroline, run," He commanded, watching the man as he got closer, everything that she was about to say was pushed from his mind as the reporter got closer and closer to them.

"Klaus," She started to object but he stopped her, but pushing her towards the other end of the playground.

"Run," and when she saw how close the reporter was getting and she saw him raising his camera to get a picture of them together she gave Klaus one last look before running away.

* * *

Katherine was walking around town with a splitting headache, ready to snap at someone. How much had she drunk? She couldn't even remember, after her conversation with Elena she had drunk herself into a stupor and then drunk some more. She rounded the corner on her way to the drug store to get more Tylenol when she saw the couple approaching her. She froze mid-step and wondered if it was too late to turn around and go home hoping that they hadn't seen her. But before she could turn around Stefan waved at her.

"Katherine!" He shouted and she panicked even more. Rebekah was eying her and giving her an annoyed look as Stefan practically dragged her along with him. "Hey,"

"Hi Stefan," She said awkwardly, "Rebekah," She nodded towards the blonde and looked back to Stefan. Although she was over her feelings for him now that she was with Elijah she still felt awkward around the Salvatore family.

"Katherine," Rebekah said forcing a smile.

"How are you?" Stefan asked her warmly.

"Fine," She nodded, swallowing nervously at the sudden awkwardness in the conversation. "You?"

"Great, just some last minute wedding details," He said and Rebekah smiled.

"Oh, that's," Kat paused searching for a word through the constant hammering in her head, "fun,"

"It is," Rebekah agreed, "Actually Katherine, I've been meaning to talk to you," Stefan looked at her oddly before letting her arm go.

"I'll give you two a minute," Stefan said before he nodded farewell to Kat and walked towards the café down the street.

"I wanted to tell you that Stefan told me about his history with you and—" She said but Katherine interrupted her before she could go any further.

"Rebekah I'm really sorry if I caused any difficulties with the two of you," She swallowed really not wanting to have this conversation while she was having the mother of all hangovers, "I was pretty messed up," Rebekah raised her eyebrow, "But I've been doing a lot better and I feel horrible about the whole situation, Damon didn't deserve to be used and hurt like that, I was a total bitch to him," She was rambling now and the way that Rebekah was looking at her made her nervous, "Stefan's really happy with you and I'm never going to try to get in the way of that,"

"Katherine," Rebekah interrupted, "Stefan and I are fine, and I don't hate you," Katherine's mouth dropped open. "Ok, I don't hate you anymore,"

"You don't?" Katherine smiled.

"No, I understand the lengths that someone would go to for Stefan," She assured her, "I just wanted to know what you're doing with Elijah, he won't tell me anything and Nik doesn't know so I was wondering if it was at all the same, because if it is then I'm going to kick your ass before Kol or Nik can get to you,"

"We're," She paused, "Dating, I guess," They spent most of their time talking and eating leftover pizza from Katherine's freezer, but they had gone out once or twice.

"So you're not using him then?" She sounded worried.

"No, no I promise I'm totally not using him," She laughs awkwardly and Rebekah smiles, relieved.

"Good, in that case I think that you two are really cute together," Kat smiled at Rebekah's approval. "And god knows that he needs to loosen up a bit,"

"Thank you," She said laughing.

"I hope to see you at the wedding by the way, I want to see if you can get Elijah to dance, he's so boring at events," Kat laughed again and nodded.

"I'll try," Rebekah smiled and then excused herself to go eat with Stefan. After the blonde was out of sight Katherine smiled to herself. She still had a horrible hangover but she felt as if she had won some sort of battle with her life. Rebekah didn't blame her, and that in itself was a huge weight off of her shoulders. She put her hands in her coat pocket and continued on her way to the drugstore.

* * *

**So there's more Klaroline in upcoming chapters, not so much the next one but either the one after that or if not definitely the one after that. Please review and tell me what you think! The next chapter might take a little bit because I have school starting next week and after that I have no idea how me writing schedule is going to be but I'm gonna try super hard to get it out to you guys! **


	15. Chapter 15: Elijah

**I'm going to be completely honest and just say that this chapter was not a good one. Its not edited so im sorry for that, theres just been a lot of crap going on in my life and i didnt want to write this chapter so its kind of just a cluster of little things happening...for that i am sorry...**

* * *

"Mom?" Caroline answered her cell next to her on the table.

"Caroline sweetie how are you?" Her mom's voice floated out of the phone into her ear and Caroline smiled a little.

"I'm doing ok, how are you?"

"Good, listen I called about that favor you asked me a while ago," Caroline's eyes widened and she sat straighter in her chair.

"Did you actually find something?" She asked shocked.

"Well, there were a couple candidates, with the minimal amount of information we had to go on but I think that it might actually be one of the three."

"Seriously?" Her face lit up in a huge smile. A while ago she had asked her mom to help her do something nice for Klaus and since they had broken up she just didn't have the heart to call her mom off of her chase.

"There's one that really stands out though, I'll email you the files later so you can look over them and tell me what you think,"

"Yeah! That'd be great thank you mom!"

"It's really no trouble sweetie," She could tell that Liz was smiling warmly at her daughter's happiness. "How's the job hunt going?"

"It's rough, but I'm about to go out and talk to Matt to see if he can get me a job in the bar he works at,"

"Oh, well at least it's something," She sounded slightly disappointed and they fell into an awkward silence. "So how is the weather in New York?"

"It's getting colder, how about in Mystic Falls?"

"Getting colder," Liz stated, and Caroline sighed, looking over to the clock on the stove.

"Mom, I have to go meet Matt now, thanks so much for the info, I'm sure he'll really appreciate it,"

"Wait, Caroline," Her mom stopped her hasty.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you doing this for him?" She sounded nervous about asking and Caroline sighed in response. She had expected this to come sooner or later but honestly she had been hoping for later.

"Because he deserves to know, every kid deserves to know who their father is," She said sadly, "And I wanted to do something nice for him,"

"But he broke your heart," Liz said quietly.

"Still, he deserves to know," She had known that her mom wouldn't understand but she still felt like she should do something.

"Honey, if this is about Bill—"

"No mom, it's not about him, don't worry about it I'm over that," Her mind flashed to her conversation with Klaus last night. "I really have to go or else I'm going to be late,"

"Ok, good luck honey, I love you,"

"Love you too mom,"

* * *

She sighed as she walked back to her apartment after her talk with Matt. He had assured her that he was going to try as hard as he could to get her a job at the bar he was working at but the only thing he had to do was talk to the owner, some guy named Logan Fell. From what Caroline had heard about him from Matt he wasn't the warmest human being but she was desperate to get a paycheck at this point and she decided to just suck it up and take what she could get. He said he would call or text her when he heard something which probably wouldn't happen until after his shift that night.

She was completely lost in her thoughts, not noticing anything around her until she ran into someone walking the opposite way as her.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Caroline exclaimed, spinning to see the person she had hit. It was a girl, she couldn't have been more than 16 and she was walking with a group of three other girls around the same age.

"It's fin—" she began to say but when she saw who she was talking to she stopped and a look of shock passed through her eyes. "Are you Caroline Forbes?"

"Uh, yeah," she responded awkwardly, no one ever really stopped her on the street without Klaus being there before and she was slightly cautious, wondering what the girl was going to say.

"As in the Caroline Forbes who dated Klaus Mikaelson?" She asked excitedly and Caroline nodded. The girl looked over to her friends for a moment and said something quietly that Caroline couldn't hear. When she turned back towards her she was smiling. "Wow, it's just so great to meet you," She stepped closer, "This is going to sound so stupid but I told myself that if I ever got to meet you I would do _this," _She brought up her hand that was by her side and Caroline had a second to notice the cup she was holding before she had ice cold soda splashed in her face.

Caroline gasped in shock and went to wipe away the liquid from her eyes as the group of girls laughed and then ran away before she could retaliate. As they were running one of them turned around to yell, "That's for Klaus!" And then they turned the corner and they were gone. She stood there in shock for a few moments, debating with herself if she should go after them and do something but she decided against it.

* * *

She was fuming the entire way back, her jaw clenched and glaring at the sidewalk in front of her. When she got to her apartment she took a second to drop her jacket off at her place and then went across the hall and started knocking furiously on Katherine's door.

"Kat!" She said loudly, banging on the door again. She heard a shuffling of feet on the other side and some hushed voices and then the door swung open to reveal a shirtless Elijah and a half dressed Katherine. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" her eyes were wide and Kat smiled awkwardly, her mouth opening to make some kind of comment but when she saw the state that Caroline was in she stopped.

"Are you ok? What happened?" She asked, taking in the slightly damp and now matted blonde hair and wet shirt Caroline was wearing. She could see Caroline's eyes start to fill with tears. "Come on honey," She pulled Caroline in before she could protest and pulled her over to the couch, sitting her down. "Ok talk,"

"There was this bitch on the way home and she threw soda at me,"

"Why?" Kat snorted and Elijah's eyes widened slightly.

"Because they blame me for everything going on with Klaus,"

"That's stupid! Why would they think that?"

"Because that's what he told the reporters," Elijah said quietly from the other side of the room, "He told them that she broke it off with him," Kat sighed and pulled Caroline in for a hug.

"That's bullshit, I'm sorry Lijah but I'm going to kill you brother," Elijah smiled and Caroline gave a short laugh.

"I'll speak to him when I get home," Elijah nodded and Caroline smiled at him over Kat's shoulder.

"It's fine, I can handle myself," She tried to smile reassuringly but Elijah's frown deepened.

"Caroline," He said standing taller, "May I speak with you privately for a moment?" Caroline swallowed nervously but pulled away from Kat nodding to him. He gave her a reassuring smile as he grabbed his shirt from the armchair and pulled it over his head.

"Um, we can go across the hall," Caroline said awkwardly as Kat gave Elijah a weird look. He smiled at her and crossed the room to give her a quick kiss before going back to where Caroline was standing at the door.

"If you touch him I swear to god I'll kill you Forbes," Kat winked at her and Caroline rolled her eyes before leading Elijah across the hall.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" She asked him awkwardly as they set foot in her apartment. Elijah shook his head and made his way over to her couch, sitting down.

"You need to set him straight," He said and Caroline sighed.

"Right to business then," She said under her breath, pulling up a chair and sitting across from him.

"He has no right to do this to your life," She looked down slightly ashamed, she felt like a two year old being scolded. "Do you see how much this has affected you?" He sounded curious, as if maybe she hadn't realized. "You can't get a job, you've lost weight, Katherine says that you don't sleep most nights,"

"I'm fi—" she started to say but her cut her off.

"You're not fine," He said harshly and her eyes snapped to his, slightly shocked at his tone, "Katherine won't say anything but she worries about you. You need to confront Niklaus about this, it's not right,"

"Well he's not exactly handling this the best either," She said sharply.

"Nik needs to grow up, he doesn't yet realize that throwing tantrums doesn't get him what he wants,"

"So you think that I should tell him off and then never speak to him again?"

"No, I think that you both need to get some closure over this. He told me what he said to you and I do not blame you for hating him,"

"I don't hate him," She said quietly, "That's what's so messed up about all of this, I don't hate him. I never did. I knew he didn't mean those things, but it still scares me that I can forgive him this easily for something as horrible as all this."

"You have a good heart Caroline," She let out a huff.

"Well for once I don't want to be the responsible one Elijah! I don't want to be the one that has to settle for the guy that is second best, or to be the one that has to take care of everyone!" Her voice was steadily rising.

"Miss Forbes, my brother is a very complicated man. He often makes rash decisions and he is a hard man to love, but when he was with you he was never happier. I saw it, Rebekah saw it, Kol even sees it. He let you go because he didn't want you to come back, he wanted you gone because he was afraid that he would destroy your goodness."

"Well it was a stupid decision to make," She huffed.

"He's self-destructing Caroline," Elijah paused a moment, taking in the way that her shoulders sagged as if the weight of the world was on them. She didn't deserve this, "And for some reason you're the only one that can save him." Her eyes began filling with tears, "He needs you as much as you need him,"

"I-I can't—" She swallowed and took a breath to collect herself, "I can't just let him back in that easily,"

"Do you know what Mikael did to him?" She nodded, confused for a moment at the sudden change in conversation. "It didn't end with that, he still uses him. Mikael will take every chance that he can to destroy Niklaus' happiness,"

"Why are you telling me this?" She whispered, staring at her hands which were shaking slightly in her lap.

"Because you stood up to him, and you didn't know fully what that meant to Nik," His eyes searched hers for a moment before continuing, "No one ever did that, we were all too afraid, and then you a girl that he hadn't known for even a year was able to stand toe-to-toe with his biggest demon and walk away unscathed."

"Elijah, I can't just take him back,"

"I don't expect you to," He smiled and stood, "You both have strong head's Miss Forbes, it will be some time before either of you give in," She laughed, knowing that he was right, "But please just consider what I said," She stood too, nodding, "Now, I must get back to my Katerina," He smiled warmly at the mention of her name.

"Yeah, she might come in here and drag you away if you don't get back over there,"

"Talk to him, you might feel better," She nodded again.

"So how was your talk last night?" Tyler asked as they sat on her couch, watching a movie. She had called him after Elijah had left, looking for some comfort and relaxation after a horrible day. He gave her an annoyed look, "With Klaus,"

"It was fine," She said cautiously and he scoffed. "Is there something wrong Tyler?" She asked, getting defensive. He had really picked the wrong day to mess with her.

"It's just that when I take time out of my busy schedule to go out with some girl I don't like when she goes off with her ex-boyfriend,"

"Tyler, I needed to talk to him, it didn't mean anything,"

"Well obviously _he _means something," He turned back to the TV with a scowl on his face.

"Yeah, he means a lot to me actually, but that doesn't mean he's going to get in the way of our relationship,"

"Well if he means so much to you then why don't you go sleep with him! One of us should at least be getting some," Her jaw dropped and she eyed him furiously.

"You know what Tyler, I think you should go. I've had a really bad day and I don't want to deal with this right now,"

"Well I do!" He stood up so that he was towering over her threateningly, trying to intimidate her. "I was a complete gentleman on our date and you completely ditched me for that asshole!"

"You were a jerk on our date," She said scoffing at him. She saw his body clench and she knew that he was beyond pissed at her.

"You know what, this is over." He spat, "You come with too much baggage and I could do a lot better. Everyone thinks so." He turned and grabbed his jacket from the back of the couch, pulling it on furiously as he stomped towards the door. "Have fun with your little celebrity," He said venomously.

"You're an ass Tyler," She spat back at him as he yanked the door open and stormed out, only stopping to slam it behind him.

As she sat there fuming her phone buzzed next to her and she picked it up angrily, vaguely seeing the text from Matt there.

**Logan says that you got the job : ) congratulations Care!**

She smiled, shooting him a quick thank you. At least she had something good going for her now.

* * *

**Ouch ok, yeah you can be honest with me and tell me it sucked...I know it did but thanks for reading! I started school again this week so updates might be a little weird for a while, just until i get ahold of things again...like sleep...but yeah thanks and please PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE review and tell me what you think! **


	16. Chapter 16: Friends then?

She was fuming, she had long since passed the point of a rational frame of mind. After everything that he had put her through she still ended up doing him favors. Well, not exactly him, it was more Stefan and Elijah that asked her to do things but still it was _for_ him. If anyone looked up 'road rage' in the dictionary right then they would see a picture of Caroline Forbes speeding through New York to get to an address that Elijah had texted Kat about an hour ago.

"Turn left up here," Kat said from the passenger's seat. After everything that had happened since they returned from Mystic Falls, Caroline figured that she actually owed Elijah this favor. He had helped pull Kat out of her spiral a few weeks ago, and then the other day he had helped her through better understanding Klaus and why he did what he did. She understood better now but that still didn't mean she wanted to become friends with her ex, let alone go drag his ass back from some party. "It should be on this street." Kat said as she looked out the window, scanning each house for signs that there had been a raging party the previous night.

"Found it," Caroline said as they pulled up to a house that had about three people passed out in the lawn, two on the porch steps, the front door wide open and countless bottles littering the lawn. "Look Kat, you might want to stay in here, I have no idea how bad it's going to be in there." The blonde said, trying to push away the sense of dread she felt at going inside that house.

"Care, I think you're forgetting that this used to be my kind of hang out," Kat said as she unbuckled and put her hand on the door handle. "Don't worry, they'll all be either passed out or so drugged up they won't know what's going on."

"Which one were you?" Caroline asked as she too unbuckled her seat belt and opened her door. The air outside was chilly and she shivered a bit before shutting the car door behind her.

"Obviously I was the second kind," Kat replied as she too stepped out, "Never pass out at a party, you either wake up with sharpie on your face or duct taped to the ceiling." Caroline laughed and walked around so that she could walk with Kat up to the door.

Inside the house was ten times worse than outside. There was smoke everywhere, people passed out on tables and on the floor, bottles broken all over, garbage strewn into corners. There were a few pools of vomit near the bathroom. It smelled disgusting to say the least.

"Hell of a party," Kat said looking around, "Ok let's find lover boy," She said, stepping over a few passed out people to get towards the back of the house. There was a room with a few couches. Sure enough on one of the couches sat Klaus. He was unconscious like the other ninety-five percent of the population in the house and there were five scantily clad girls laying over him. Caroline rolled her eyes and approached him. Kat followed and started peeling the women away so Caroline could try to wake him up.

After about five minutes of shaking him and trying to wake him, he was still unconscious. Caroline sighed and moved towards the kitchen, which thankfully was right next to the room they were in. She grabbed a pot and watched as it filled with cold water from the tap. Over her shoulder she watched as Kat continued to try to wake Klaus.

Once the pot was filled with cold water Caroline carried it over to where Klaus was laying sprawled on the couch. She brought it over his head and dumped it, pouring ice cold water directly onto his face. He woke up with a start and sat up quickly, shaking the water out of his blonde hair. Kat laughed as he looked frantically around, until his eyes rested on Caroline who was setting the pot down by her feet.

"Sweetheart," He mumbled, settling back into the couch, "Nice to see you, as always," He closed his eyes and Caroline stepped forward to grab his hand to pull him up.

"Not today Klaus," She groaned yanking on his arm. "We're getting you out of here," She managed to get his arm over her shoulder and with Kat's help they pulled him off of the couch.

It takes about ten minutes to get him out to Caroline's car and into the backseat. The whole way he is mumbling something under his breath that they can't make out but Caroline isn't even sure that it's English. Once he is situated in the backseat of the car, buckled in as best as they can with him swaying every time they move him, Caroline and Kat make their way to the front of the car.

Since Caroline's apartment is closer than the Mikaelson mansion she decided to take him there. Sometime in the car ride he had fallen asleep against the window and every few minutes they could hear a gentle snoring coming from him.

"He's even more messed up than me isn't he?" Kat says offhandedly as she looks back at him. Caroline doesn't even want to get a good look at him. She knows now what Elijah meant when he mentioned the whole 'self-destruct' thing. He assured her that it wasn't her fault, it was just how he dealt with things, but she couldn't help but feel at least a little bit guilty for having been a small trigger towards it.

When they pull into the apartment parking lot it takes about fifteen minutes to get him up to the apartment. Once he's there Caroline deposits him on the couch before going into the kitchen to fetch a glass of water and some Tylenol for him. Just as she's about to tell Kat that she can leave they hear a cell phone ring in the front room.

"That sounds like his," Caroline sighs, walking to get it from his jacket pocket. With one glance at the name she feels the fury from earlier build up again ten-fold. '_Mikael' _is written on the tiny screen and Katherine's jaw drops.

"Why the hell is _he _calling?" She asks and before Caroline can give her an answer Klaus stirs. Both girls look at him before Caroline presses the answer button on the phone and brings it up to her ear.

"Niklaus, I trust that everything went well with our deal?" Mikael's accented voice comes out from the phone. Caroline's grip tightens on the phone and she looks at Klaus, wondering what deal Mikael cold be talking about. Katherine has her ear pressed to the other side of the phone, listening in on the call. "Niklaus?" Mikael's voice breaks Caroline's train of thought.

"Mikael," Caroline sneers, before she has the good sense to hang up the phone. The other line is silent for a few moments before Caroline speaks again, "I thought I told you to stay away from Klaus,"

"And I thought I was very clear with my warnings to you the last time we met," He responds coldly.

"What deal were you talking about? Did you find another way to use him for your benefit?" She asks in a sickly sweet voice and she hears a long sigh from the other line.

"Where is my son?" He asks her, he sounds frustrated and she can't help but smile at the thought that she's somehow getting to him.

"He's not your son Mikael, you drilled that into his brain from the day you found out that little fact."

"Miss Forbes may I ask why you are with Niklaus?" He asks, "I thought that you broke his heart, did you come back just to cause him more pain? It seems as if you and I are not so different after all." Caroline's jaw locks angrily and her hand loosens enough for Kat to take the phone from her hand and put it to her ear.

"Mikael Mikaelson?" She says, "Katherine Petrova,"

"Ah, Elijah's new project," Mikael sneers and Kat scoffs.

"Sure, if that's what you want to call his girlfriend that's fine by me," she replies, "You probably don't even know what that word means, _girlfriend."_ Klaus stirs again and his eyes flicker open at Kat's raising voice. "I mean, you probably haven't even had sex with someone who you haven't paid in _years." _

"Excuse me?" He snarls.

"You're lucky that you talked to Caroline first, I'm not as calm as her, or nice," Katherine warns.

"Are you threatening me Ms. Petrova?"

"Good job Mikaelson, and yes I am." Caroline is staring at her friend open mouthed. "Don't worry, Elijah's told me all about what you did to his family."

"Be careful what you say to me Katherine," Mikael warns,

"All I hear is talk, talk, talk," Kat says and by now Klaus is wide awake, listening to the conversation. "So listen, the next time you compare my best friend to a lying sack of shit like yourself, you'll have not only me but Elijah, and probably the rest of your 'family' to answer to." Caroline takes the phone from Kat before she can piss him off anymore and she puts it back up to her ear, listening to him breathing hard, probably restraining himself from making the situation worse.

"Mr. Mikaelson, the next time you decide to call Klaus with whatever kind of deal you've made up," Caroline says calmly, locking eyes with a furious Kat, "Don't, and leave him alone or else I will find a way to end your career," She says

"That's some big talk for Miss Mystic Falls isn't it Caroline?" Caroline's breath hitches, "Yes, I know all about you Caroline, your father Bill and his partner Stephan, your mother Liz, your sweet little boyfriend Tyler," _Ex- boyfriend, _She thinks.

"Mr. Mikaelson, do you recognize the name Louis Carthage?" She asks him and she smiles when Mikael's breathing hitches. "The man in London who mysteriously disappeared a few weeks after you found out about your wife's affair?" She listens to his breathing hollow out, "There are some perks to having a mother who is a cop Mikael," She sneers, "It'd really be a shame if that information got leaked into the press wouldn't it? I mean that could be," She pauses for a second, "_Career ruining,_" Up until now the whole Louis Carthage thing had been nothing but a hunch, but Mikael's reaction to the name just proved Caroline right without a shadow of a doubt. Louis Carthage was Klaus' biological father, and he went missing after Mikael found out about Esther's affair. "Have a nice day," She says sarcastically before hanging up on him. She looks at Kat who has her mouth open in shock.

"Damn," She breathes, "Remind me to watch my back if I ever cross you," Caroline lets out a breathy laugh before turning to the previously unconscious man on her couch. Her eyes meet Klaus' and her heart sinks at the realization that he must have heard the entire conversation.

"On that note, I'm gonna go," Kat says, giving Klaus a look before turning and going across the hall to her place.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you," She says moving to sit next to him on the couch once Kat is gone.

"How?" He asks, his voice quiet, "How did you find him?"

"I wanted to do something nice for you after you told me about Mikael so I called my mom and told her to do a search on the men in the area you were living in and since it was a small area there weren't that many results of the men who could potentially be your father, and there was one that had gone missing about two weeks after you told me Mikael found out." She looked down at her hands, "I wasn't sure it was him until I heard Mikael's reaction."

"I have a father," He whispered, looking down.

"You always had a father Nik,"

"That's twice that you fought off Mikael without me," He sighed and looked back up at her.

"Well, I'm a big girl, I don't need you to protect me," She reminded him before handing him the glass of water from the table next to the couch. "You can crash here, I'll drive you back home later," She said standing and going back into the kitchen to make him something for the horrible hangover he would undoubtedly have.

"Caroline," He said from behind her and she spun around to face him. "Thank you," She nodded, not knowing what to say, "So, are we friends then?" He asked his eyes hopeful and she thought about what he was asking. He didn't want to know if they could be friends, he wanted to know if he still had a shot to be with her. He wanted to know if she could forgive him.

"Klaus," She sighed, and his face fell, "You and I will never be just friends," She told him and he nodded. "Go sleep, I'll make you some bacon or something," She told him, wondering why after telling him the truth, she felt so empty inside. It felt like there was a part of her missing when she wasn't with him and she hated that.

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**I LOVED all of your guys' reviews last chapter! And thanks to the people who gave me ideas, I'll work on putting them in because they were great! Please review! **


	17. Chapter 17: Meredith Fell

**Your reviews are great guys thank you so much! You've all given me so many great ideas and I just want to thank you all sooooo very much! So here you go! A few of you have been wondering why Klaus isn't doing anything about the threats and I just wanna pat you all on the head and give you a cookie because you all read my mind. **

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For the past few weeks everything seemed to have gone straight to hell. Klaus was leaving her alone, which made her both extremely lonely and a little bit relieved. She still didn't know how she felt about him but it ranged somewhere between wanting to kill him for being such a stuck-up jackass and wanting to push him into a wall and have her way with him. But while he left her alone to sort out her feelings, his fans didn't give her the same courtesy. The bar was the only place where she could go and not be ambushed by people wanting to tell her what a horrible person she was for leaving him like that. Logan had her working in the back, out of the view of the public and she felt slightly relieved about it. They all still blamed her for his drinking again, and for the roll in the movie that he had lost recently. She wanted to just scream at them and tell them that it hadn't been her decision to break it off. But with Klaus pursuing her every chance he got and the media finding out about her constantly rejecting him, it made her out like the bad guy.

At first the threats were the typical 'how could you' and 'you bitch' kind of remarks and from there they had slowly escalated. By now, people were threatening to kill her. They said that if they ever saw her walking on the street they would beat her. She hadn't told anyone, it wasn't something that you just brought up in conversation. 'Oh hey did you watch that TV show last night? Oh and by the way my ex-boyfriend's crazy fans are threatening to kill me', right because _that _would go over well. At first it had just been emails and things like that, then she started getting phone calls and texts all the time, and finally she started getting letters to her apartment.

Finally, Kat noticed that she had been sleeping less than usual and asked her why. After her usual remark about it being too cold or too hot or she just had a lot on her mind, Kat got down to the real issue. Caroline had started sobbing when she told Kat about it. She told her about how they threatened to come to her apartment with a gun and kill her in her sleep. How whenever she slept she had nightmares about it. After a call to Elijah telling him what was going on she dragged Caroline with her back to her apartment across the hall.

Elijah, in turn, had told Rebekah and told her that she couldn't tell Stefan or else he would tell Klaus and nobody wanted to be the one responsible for that. But somehow, Bekah had let it slip to Stefan.

Caroline was sitting on Kat's couch when her cell phone rang next to her. Expecting to see either a blocked number or one she didn't recognize she was surprised to see Stefan's name on her caller ID.

"Hello?" She answered, she sounded as tired as she felt.

"Care, what the hell! Why didn't you tell me?" He yelled into the phone and she flinched.

"Because this is how I knew you would react," She replied calmly, Rebekah and Katherine had been talking more and since then Stefan had been over at Kat's apartment couple times a week. Whenever Bekah was talking with Kat he would stop over to say hi to her. Since their little visits he seemed to take on the role of her older brother, which went along with him being extremely protective of her.

"Of course this is how I'm going to react! People are threatening to kill you," His voice was calmer now but she could tell he was angry.

"Did Rebekah tell you?" She asked

"Yes, and then I called Elijah and Kol to confirm it."

"Kol knows now too?" She asked

"Of course Kol knows, the only one who doesn't know is Klaus and trust me, it won't be long until he finds out." Caroline sighed and switched her phone to the other ear.

"Great, just great, Kol's probably going to come barging in here any second with a baseball bat ready to single handedly beat them all to a bloody pulp."

"Care, this is serious,"

"I know it's serious Stefan," She sighed and settled back further into the couch. "I'm not staying at my place so they can't find me, I'll be fine."

"Katherine said you weren't sleeping,"

"I'm fine,"

"And that you're losing more weight,"

"I'm fine,"

"Promise me that if something else comes up that you'll call one of us," He told her, "I know things are weird with Klaus but that doesn't mean you have to be a stranger to the rest of us,"

"I know Stefan," She said and after they said their goodbyes she hung up.

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A few hours later she was sitting on the couch waiting for Katherine to come back from her date with Elijah, she was flipping channels on Kat's TV when something caught her eye. She stopped on one of the various entertainment channels and watched as the talk show host talked about the new movies coming out that week.

"And after our commercial break, tune in to hear our in depth talk with Klaus Mikaelson," she said cheerily as the station went to some commercial about animal cruelty. She knew that there was probably nothing on this interview that she would want to see but she couldn't take her eyes away from the TV. When the program came back on the lady was sitting with Klaus already talking and laughing.

"Hi everybody we're back with Klaus Mikaelson," she said loudly and the audience cheered as Klaus waved. "So, Klaus, tell us about all the drama going around lately," She said leaning towards him.

"What kind of drama?" He asked, and Caroline figured that she was probably talking about the loss of the movie deal a few weeks ago.

"With your ex," she clarified, pulling out a magazine from the day before and handing it to him. Behind her on the screen they showed a larger version of the magazine cover. It was a picture of her from a few days ago when she went out with Matt to a movie. She looked horrible, her hair was up and she was wearing next to no makeup, and the recent weight loss she had gone through didn't help the situation. Her jaw dropped in shock and she watched as Klaus calmly took in the picture on the cover. "Apparently she's been receiving lots of threats from your fans, do you have anything to say about that?" She asked him. Caroline watched as Klaus' jaw twitched and she couldn't tell if it was from anger or annoyance.

"Well, Meredith," He said calmly, "My relationship with Caroline is completely private, I don't think that there is any need for my fans to be sending any kind of threats to her. Our breakup was a mutual thing, just two people who had grown apart,"

"So you guys are friends?" Meredith asked, cutting him off.

"We're," Klaus paused, "not quite to that stage yet but in the few times that we've seen each other since, it's been friendly."

"Did you know she was receiving this kind of attention?"

"To be honest, no, I had heard some things from my friends and family but nothing too extreme. Caroline is a lovely girl and she doesn't deserve this kind of negative attention, she didn't do anything wrong. We had a relationship that was made extremely public and now everyone seems to blame her and the threats, I must admit, seem a tad bit too much, however I trust Caroline to be able to call me if it gets any worse." He looked at the camera and her heart jolted; it was as if he was looking right at her. She decided then that she couldn't watch anymore and she shut the TV off quickly, guilt budding in the pit of her stomach.

Rationally, she knew that Meredith Fell was one of the most notorious gossips in the entire city and that Klaus wouldn't take everything she said to heart. But then again, it was Klaus and he could be insanely protective when he wanted to be. From his reaction on the interview she couldn't tell if he had known about the threats beforehand or not. She grabbed a beer from Kat's fridge and took a big gulp, trying to calm herself.

Less than an hour after the interview officially ended Caroline was sitting on the couch, finishing off her beer and flipping through the pages of a magazine when she heard a loud knocking coming from the door. She stood sighing, assuming that Katherine had forgotten to take her keys with her again and was now locked out. She padded barefoot over to the door and opened it without looking through the peep hole.

"Hey how was your date?" She asked as she swung to door open. But when she saw who was on the other side her mouth dropped. Standing there, looking furious was none other than, "Klaus," she gasped and quickly grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch to cover herself, for some reason she felt self-conscious standing in front of him in just her pajama shorts and tank top.

"Caroline," He growled as he pushed by her into the apartment. She shut the door behind him, her jaw hanging open.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked as she watched him pace around the apartment. He dragged his hand down his face and looked at her warily.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, stepping closer.

"Tell you what?" She knew exactly what he was talking about but she wasn't going to be the one to address the elephant in the room.

"Don't play dumb with me sweetheart," He spat, taking a few long strides closer to her until he was right in front of her, "The _threats _Caroline, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you would react like this," She said slowly, she had the same conversation with Stefan and she didn't feel like a repeat, so she settled with trying not to anger him anymore. "Besides, it's not that big of a deal," She shrugged, playing down the way she felt about it, hoping to avoid a fight with him.

"Not that big of a deal?" His eyebrows raised and he glared at her, "They were threatening to _kill _you Caroline!" He was shouting now and she flinched.

"So?" She shouted back suddenly not caring if they got into a fight or not, "Now you care about what happens to me?" She laughed dryly and turned around to throw the blanket back on the couch. "Klaus, I'm a big girl I don't need you to take care of me!" She spun back around to face him.

"I'm not going to let you get hurt because of me Caroline!"

"Like I haven't already been hurt?" She laughed dryly, "_Please _Klaus, you've hurt me more than your fans ever could," With that she turned around and walked back towards the door.

"Don't turn your back on me!" He shouted after her, walking behind her. Caroline stopped abruptly, causing Klaus to run into her from behind. HE could immediately tell that he had gone too far when she spun around furiously with her eyes blazing and jabbed his chest with her finger.

"I should have turned my back on you _ages _ago!" She screamed, he looked taken aback but she wasn't about to stop now, "Because of you I can't live in my apartment, I can't get a decent job because nobody wants to hire your 'leftovers', I can't hold a steady relationship with a guy because I'm running off every two minutes to pick your sorry drunk ass from a party!" She was breathing heavily. After glaring at him for a few moments she reached behind her and found the doorknob and turned it, throwing open the door to make him leave. "Get out," She said calmly. He was staring at her wide eyed.

"No one asked you to do that for me Caroline," He said as he brushed past her on his way out.

"Your brothers did, Stefan did," He was out in the hallway now looking at her. She could tell that he was still angry with her but his fury had died down now and there was also sadness in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something else but she stopped him by slamming the door in his face. Once it was closed all the way she stood staring at it for a few moments, breathing heavily and trying to calm her thoughts. Once she could think properly again she turned her back to the door and leaned against it, slowly sinking down until she was sitting on the floor, her knees tucked to her chest. She sat like that until the tears started to fall down her cheeks.

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**Please review! And if you have anything particular to happen in the story, I have it all planned out but I could still add things here and there :)**


	18. Chapter 18: The Bar

"I need you at the bar tonight." Logan says leaning over the counter in the kitchen. Caroline sighs, still paying attention to the task in front of her.

"Why? Did Jenna call in sick?" She asks glancing up at him

"Yeah, and Bonnie is on vacation." Logan says.

"I thought you said that you didn't want me to be seen." She states glaring at him. He rolls his eyes in response.

"Yeah, well you might bring in some business and we could seriously use some of that."

"So in other words, you want me to mix a few drinks while people flock around to see what has become of Klaus Mikaelson's leftovers?" She shakes her head, but she knows that she won't be able to find another job anytime soon and she's close with the people at the Grill.

The bar is loud and Caroline is running back and forth flipping various bottles as customers woo and clap for her. Despite some of the obvious gawking at her she is smiling, enjoying herself for the first time in a while.

"What can I get you Damon?" She has to yell to the dark haired man who is sitting at the bar stool in front of her so that he can hear her over the blasting music and laughter filling the now jam packed bar.

"Bourbon." He says and Caroline smiles. Ever since they've known each other she has never seen Damon order anything but Bourbon.

"You sure you don't want to try something else? Might do you some good." He glares at her and she puts he hands up leaning down to grab a clean glass and the bottle from behind her.

"Hey hot stuff!" A vaguely familiar voice shouts from behind her. Caroline stiffens slowly standing straight. "Can I get a 'dizzy blonde'?" She is met with brown laughing eyes. Caroline laughs and shakes her head as she hands Damon his bourbon.

"Kol." She says looking at the man in front of her who is now leaning slightly over the counter. "Bonnie is on vacation so you won't be picking up any bartenders tonight," All around her people start to whisper, some pointing fingers at them giggling.

"Or how about a 'hot dream'?" He ignores her Bonnie comment and winks at her. Caroline turns away, ignoring her pounding heart. What is he doing here? Are the others coming? Oh god, she's not ready for that yet.

"What can I get you?" She asks the tired looking man at the opposite end of the counter.

"Just a beer please," He says with a smile. After the man has his beer she turns back to see where Kol has gone when she sees him on her side of the counter holding a bottle in his hand and flirting with a cute girl.

"Are you sure I can't get you a 'Screaming Orgasm'?" He asks and the girl blushes.

"Kol!" Caroline screams grabbing the bottle from his hands and hitting him on the back of the head. "I'm so sorry," she says to the girl who just eyes her curiously. "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to say hello to an old friend is that so bad?" He winks at her and receives another eye roll in return.

"Get back on that side of the bar." She says pointing, Kol shrugs in response and hops over.

"Can I get a drink now?" He asks putting his forearms on the bar and then leaning on them.

"Sure thing," Caroline says sweetly and then reaches over for the beer nozzle. Without a second thought she points it at his face and sprays him with high-pressured beer. Kol laughs, trying to catch as much in his mouth as he can. When she releases the trigger he throws his hands up victoriously in the air, earning a few cheers.

"FORBES!" Her mouth drops, and she wants to hit herself for not coming to the conclusion that Kol would have company. She turns to the blonde coming up behind Kol and smiles.

"Stefan," She says with a hasty glance at Damon who has stiffened at his brother's voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Bachelor party," Of course, she thinks, Kat had mentioned it earlier and she had completely forgotten. Of course they would come to her bar. She looks over his shoulder to see Elijah coming towards her with a warm smile. She is about to greet him when another tall curly haired blonde steps out from behind his brother. Time seems to freeze as they stare at each other. She's saved by Logan coming behind her and grabbing her arm, spinning her around and breaking eye contact between the two.

"What the hell are you doing?" He seethes, pulling her farther away from the customers.

"I'm bartending like you told me," She deadpans and takes a defensive stance pulling her arm out of his grasp.

"You're ignoring important customers," He nods towards the bar where there are a few women wearing low cut tops. She makes eye contact with one and she sneers causing Caroline to scoff, the others are looking down the bar towards the Mikaelsons whispering and giggling. "Go," He practically hisses at her, giving her a push towards them. She takes a breath to steady herself before approaching the women.

"What can I get you girls?" She asks and three pairs of eyes train on her in a ferocious glare.

"Aren't you Caroline Forbes?" One asks, her voice is catty and immediately Caroline doesn't like her, she has a brief flashback to the teenage soda girl but shoves the thought away.

"Yes I am," She is used to this by now but she wishes that it wouldn't be coming in front of a bar full of people, especially the one person who did this to her.

"And isn't that Klaus Mikaelson?" The other one asks, looking over Caroline's shoulder.

"Yeah it is,"

"Are you guys like, back together?" Her eyebrows furrow together as she asks and there is obvious distaste in her tone.

"No we're not, now are you going to order a drink or can I go?" She's done with these kinds of women. The kind that thinks they can pass judgment on her for something they have no idea about.

"Excuse me?" Caroline rolls her eyes. She knows that Logan will fire her if she puts a toe out of line so she keeps her temper in check for now.

"Are you going to order a drink?" A couple of people have now trained in on the conversation going on now and the bar has gotten significantly quieter. Great.

"No, not at the moment," The woman smiles sinisterly and reaches to the man next to her and grabs his beer. "But you can have one," She throws the almost full glass of beer on Caroline, drenching her top and the front of her hair. Her jaw drops, "That is for being a bitch to us," She grabs someone else's drink and throws that too. "And that's for Klaus,"

"I can throw my own drinks, but thank you sweetheart," His velvety accented voice comes from behind the group. Caroline didn't even see him come up she was so focused on the drama unfolding around her. The woman turns towards him and twirls a lock of her dark hair around her finger, smiling seductively.

"I didn't mean that you couldn't Mr. Mikaelson but I'm a huge fan, and she hurt you so," Her sickly sweet voice trails off and she bats her eyelashes at Klaus. "I'm Tatia by the way," She says biting her lip and running her gaze down his body.

"Well Tatia," his voice is calm which Caroline knows it's a danger sign. She knows that if it had been a man who had thrown a drink at her he would already be in the middle of a bar brawl. "The next time you accuse friends of mine of hurting me, or whatever you are accusing her of, because of something you read in a magazine then think again." Caroline can't take anymore so she turns around and grabs a towel from the bar and starts wiping her hands. Logan comes out again, probably to yell at her again but when he sees her practically drenched in alcohol he sighs and nods to her, silently telling her to go clean up. She brushes past him as tears threaten to spill over. She ducks under the bar and hastily makes her way towards the ladies room. She's aware of everyone's eyes burning into her back as she walks away but she doesn't care.

Finally she makes it to the bathroom and slams the door behind her, locking it before the tears finally spill over. She is really done with people treating her like this, like shit just because she dated a guy. She's been dealing with it for months now and every time it stings just as bad as the first. They're not even together and yet he still finds ways to hurt her. She makes her way over to the mirror and tries to contain the tears that are now turning into sobs. Her makeup is practically ruined, mascara running down her cheeks from the mixture of beer and tears. There's a knock on the door, "Someone's in here!" She shouts while desperately trying to calm her hysterical sobs.

"It's Stefan." She sighs and goes to the door unlocking it and pulling it open a little bit to reveal Stefan standing there, a worried look on his face. "You ok?" He asks her and she nods, putting on her fake smile.

"I'm fine, just trying to wash off the beer," she shrugs and turns away from him, the smile dropping off her face.

"Caroline," he sighs just as the door opens again and this time there's a less friendly face that comes in. "Now's not exactly a good time Klaus," Caroline stiffens, seeing his reflection in the mirror.

"I need to talk to her," he tells Stefan, giving him a hard look.

"You can talk later Klaus," Stefan wasn't backing down and Caroline sighed, not wanting to talk to him but not wanting to be the cause of a fight between the friends.

"It's fine I'll just listen," she said turning and leaning back against the sink. Stefan looked at her in shock.

"Are you sure? You don't have to you know,"

"Bloody hell Stefan she said she'd hear me out." Stefan opened his mouth to reply something but stopped himself. He looked at Caroline again then back to Klaus before leaving the bathroom, muttering under his breath.

When the door shut behind him Klaus looked at it for a few seconds and Caroline went back to trying to get the beer stains out of her white shirt.

"Caroline look," Klaus started but she cut him off.

"If you're going to apologize then I don't want to hear it ok?" She threw the paper towel back into the sink and turned to face him.

"I don't deserve to apologize," he said quietly, hanging his head in shame.

"No, you don't." She agreed grabbing another paper towel from the dispenser and getting to work on her ruined make up.

"Here," he said softly coming towards her and taking the towel from her gently. "Let me," she flinched as he touched her.

"Look, I know you won't believe me but I am sorry. I didn't mean for it to escalate like this." He wet the towel he had grabbed and started gently dabbing under her eyes.

"You hurt me Klaus," she said softly.

"I know,"

"And even after all that you said, I still loved you," He froze.

"You still love me?" He asked, setting the paper towel down slowly and looking back up at her.

"You can't just turn your feelings off Klaus, it doesn't work like that."

"Come on love, we had a little spat, I'm over it already," He moved to tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear but she slapped his hand away.

"Oh? Well I'm not," she snapped, ducking under his arm to get away from him. "You don't get to hurt someone like that and then think that one apology will fix it all!" He turned to face her and she hit his chest. "You said _horrible _things to me Klaus!"

"I didn't mean them!" Now he was getting frustrated too, "Sweetheart you know I didn't mean them,"

"How do I know that?" She shouted, "How do I know that if I let myself fall again you're not just going to pull what you did before? I can't trust you Klaus!" She was practically screaming at him now, and as she moved her hand to push him again he grabbed her wrist and pulled her body into his. One second she was screaming at him about how much she hated him and the next he was crushing his lips to hers.

It was instinct, pure instinct that made her kiss him back. It'd been so long since someone had kissed her like that, so passionately and lovingly. Before she knew what was happening, he had backed her up against the wall and the force made her gasp, letting him use the opening as an invitation to deepen the kiss. She moaned against him and grabbed the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling slightly and causing him to let out a growl. Their kissing became more and more heated until they were interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door opening then a little squeak, followed by a hasty apology.

Caroline gasped and pushed him away from her, sending him staggering a few feet away. She was gasping for breath and trying to wrap her head around what had just happened.

"Caroline," He said softly, trying not to spook her.

"This—that was a mistake," She whispered and then started making her way towards the door.

"Caroline wait," He made a move to grab her hand and she swung around and slapped him. He stepped back a few feet in surprise and brought his hand up to his cheek. She froze too, one hand on the door and the other over her mouth.

"I'm so sorry Nik," She whispered as tears built up in her eyes. "I'm sorry," She turned and opened the door to the bathroom, going back into the bar. The second she stepped foot out of the bathroom she realized her mistake.

Her eyes widened as she was met with hundreds of cameras and voices going off at once. People shouting questions at her, flashing pictures, some of the patrons at the bar were yelling insults. She looked around frantically, trying to find a friendly face when she saw Tatia smirking at her. She held up her phone and looked at it and then to the reporters before making a pouting face.

Someone from behind her grabbed her forearm and she gasped, spinning around ready to tell Klaus to leave her alone when she saw Kol. Her body sagged in relief as he shrugged out of his jacket and gave it to her, yelling at the reporters to leave her alone as he ushered her out of the bar as quickly as he could, out into the brisk night.

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**I promise guys I'm almost done teasing you :) just hang tight! And to be honest i have no idea if i edited this or not soooo sorry if there were mistakes. Please review! **


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